The plan was already forged right after the Lake District biking trip: “Next year we’re going to Scotland!”. And despite having a year to look forward to it, we only started preparations a few weeks in advance. Van hired: check. Ferry booked: check. Tent and camping gear: check. Bike in order? Check! Which trails are we going to ride…?
Well, which trails are we going to ride. Scotland has many famous mountain bike spots: the trail centres of the 7Stanes and of course the worldcup downhill track of Fort William: the only place in the UK with a lift. Nice then we are ready for the Tweed valley mountain bike holiday
Choices enough!
We choose to spend the night in Peebles. A quiet town with a Tesco supermarket, a campsite and pubs. Last but not least, it is within cycling distance of two trail centres of the 7Stanes: Glentress and Innerleithen. All our ‘advisers’ say these are the two coolest trail centres.
The photos on the site lead me to suspect that trailcentres are mainly wide-open trails for family rides. But with plenty of black trails, Glentress and Innerleithen happily convince us to go there anyway. And it turns out to be well worth it!
Day 1: Gypsy Glen
How often can you go on a biketrip to the same destination? Well, to Scotland we can go back more often. In Glentress alone, there are dozens of kilometres of trails. Not surprisingly, the gpx files of the Enduro World Series 2015 we found on Trailforks include trails from the trail centre. But we save those for the last two days. We warm up, after the boat crossing (and another small hangover) to the gpx track: Gypsy Glen. A round trip on a great paved cycle path (yes really!) along the Tweed River. And then: one climb over soggy, sucky grassland. And one descent along stone walls, over loose rocks. A delight!
Day 2: The Black Route
Bike day two is again in full sunshine (Hello Scotland! Not seen any rain yet!) with 29 kilometres and 1100 altimeters. We start at the entrance to Glentress Trailcentre. On a Wednesday and that turns out to be a right day: on weekends (weather or no weather) the place is a lot busier. And where we first thought it would be wide fireroads, this Black Route is very natural. With plenty of rocks, stones and roots, but always with flow. No passages that are unrideable, apart from some too steep climbs. And a lot of time is clearly spent building drainage. Anyway, the only drainage today is the sweat on our upper lips.
All segments have names, admittedly not all indicated by signs, but on Strava you can check how fast you are compared to the locals. Our favourite: Double X. Stoked, we roll down, following Hielke. He goes by far with the most speed from drops of roots, through tight switchbacks and over blind double jumps. With so much adrenaline in our bodies, we nevertheless climb an extra bit back to the bike park we saw on the start climb. There are three line choices. And the choice simple: the jumpline! Unscathed, we return. Stoked as hell!
Day 3: Enduro World Series
We already mentioned it: in 2015, the Enduro World Series took place here. We start with the race day starting in Innerleithen. At times it is a bit tricky navigating with our Garmin: especially since the trail choices here are so many. Left and right of the trail we take, we see new ‘secret trails’ every time. This is evidence of an active mountain bike community. And they do ride here. The downhill tracks along which we climb enduro-style (with Evoc on our backs and pot helmet on) are fierce. So impressive that we know we want to ride them, but only with full face on.
Day 4: Enduro World Series
A day like yesterday, we’d like another one. And we can: the Enduro World Series lasted two days, so today we ride its other gpx track. This one happens to start in Peebles, a stone’s throw from our campsite. And what turns out: the trails we rode earlier on the outskirts of the village during a ‘play quarter’ just belong to one of the last EWS tracks.
The starting climb is long. And with a couple of days in the same area, we get to know the terrain well: in fact, we end up at the Glentress bike park where we were on day 2.
Today, in the rain, it really is Scotland.
And the Scots just go out too (it’s the weekend!). There are many more bikers on the trails than the days before. Where we ride some of the climbs a second time now, the descents are unique. The top of the climb shoots off the trailcentre track AND the EWS trail gets even rougher and steeper. That takes some getting used to, say. Slippery ground and steep terrain. Forgive us if we have to put some feet on the ground as a correction. But gradually, as the day progresses, so does the riding. And so does the urge to want to ride more, more and more. One of the most famous trail segments: Spooky Woods we do twice. Once for the whip shot on a jump. And once as a long flowy trail in one pull down. Some rock-drops, tables and delicious turns. A round of high-fives is allowed.
But, wait!
It’s not over yet: the final descent, which is one we can’t stop talking about. Everything that makes a descent unforgettable is in here. Not yet fully rested, we quickly shoot downhill: chasing two blonde ponytails with a traildog. They are still pedalling hard! After a friendly nod back from the two ladies, we pass them. We roll out of the forest over a carpet of roots hundreds of metres long. My 140 millimetres of suspension travel really falls short here. Hielke and Rik’s full-enduro bikes (160 and 170 milimetres) excel here. Fortunately, we stay close enough to catch the next corners in a small train. No time for photos! We just have to enjoy this trail. Suddenly Peebles looms again: the last bits of trail. Pointy rocks might cause us some more trouble, but don’t. After four days of trail riding, we have got the hang of descending pretty well. The finish at the campsite is one to be celebrated. With pints of beer, and yes, of course, a whisky too.
