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Glentress and surrounding area
45 reviews
4.78 of 5
Glentress is a large forest with plenty of trails mapped but the best bet is to visit Bike Sport in Innerleithen (6 miles from Peebles) and ask them to mark out the new MTB trails. These are custom MTB trails, the best of which connect the dead end forest roads at the South East side of Glentress Forest. Superb technical downhill, and hardly any mud! Apparently it is even possible to hire someone to drive you up to the top! Ask at Bike Sport.
Just across the River Tweed there are more trails in Elibank and Cardrona Forests, including downhill courses used in national DH championships: again, ask at Bike Sport - it's on your left just as you enter Innerleithen from the West (and no, I don't work there!)
From Edinburgh, take the A703 to Peebles (25 miles), then the A72 towards Innerleithen and Galashiels. After about 2 miles, Glentress car park is off to the left. Or you can ride, off road from Peebles.
Summary: I have ridden all the trails in Glentress now and they are all masterpieces. the black route is a slog and a bit dissapointing so I only rode it once. the north shore bit (ewok village) can easily be reached from the red route aswell by turning left, uphill where the red route has its own north shore bit. the red route is a total blast which makes you forget about the long trek to the top. even the blue route was pretty cool when i took my nephew there. the jem in my view though is the new freeride park, which you could ride endlessly without getting bored. highly recommended, five stars.
Recommended Route: red
Other recommended trails in the same area: innerliethen, right next door.
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Summary: Everything you could want within the area. Trail Centres with national DH with uplifts, to the green route for your granny. Also miles of unmarked, SWEET singletrack all over the area. You cannot fail to find singletrack heaven in the area.
Recommended Route: Everything! I have been living in the area 6 months and am still loving every inch of trail. The closest is about 20 feet from my door!
Other recommended trails in the same area: all the trails at the trail centres at Glentress and Innerleithen. Also the Jedburgh justice trails. The whole area is absolutely full of top quality trails. I have moved to the area about 6 months ago and am constantly finding new trail. Just park up, look for enticing singletrack off the beaten path and wham, another great ride. Can't recommend the area enough.
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Summary: First of all I`d like to say I think the seven stanes project has been an amazing venture for mountain bikers and I apprec iate everything that has been done.
I had read several reviews online regarding the `V trail` (black route) at Glentress and thought "Whey hey!, this is for me!" Emm, No.
I`ve been mountain biking for 13 years now and in that time I`ve covered most of what the sport has to offer (XC, trials, Freeride, DH) I`ve tried/dabbled in it all so when I read stuff like ` Awesome!! Will scare the pants off you!` and `Truly world class technical riding` or `Expert technical riders only attempt this`, I think "thats it I`m loading the bike into the car now!"
Arrived early and built the bike up with my mate and we headed off to tackle the `V trail`. Everybody was turning off to do the red route and we found there was very few people doing the black.This only got our enthusiasm up as we thought "This must be mental!"
4 hours odd later we realised why nobody was doing it. Its a slog. From start to finish. There WAS brillaint pieces of singletrack at the end, but by that time we were burnt out and too tired to enjoy it properly. 30kms. The majority seems like its uphill. I mean riding/pushing up good singletrack to ride down fireroad to go uphill on singletrack again.
If you`re in training for a race of whatever or you`re glutton for physical punishment or fitness freak then go for it.If you like to ride down great track for a mile ,then get off your bike and say "That was amazing!" Then avoid it. I`d say for my age I`m quite fit but I`m in mountain biking for the fun side of it.
No doubt somebody will disagree but hey, its only an opinion.
Helly hansen V trail? By the time you get to the good bit you`re done.
Recommended Route: Red route. Not any less technical than the black (asides from the a little of the Northshore stuff)But fun.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Kirroughtree. Flows better.
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Summary: Superb set of trails overall, as pretty much else has pointed out (especially if you live in Edinburgh :) ) Some standouts:
The black route is a hell of an aerobic challenge, no matter what level you're at. Novices will be happy to get round in an afternoon, experienced riders will race the erse out of it. The trail gives a great ride in beautiful surroundings without turning into a full-on epic.
The blue route is masterfully put together, kudos to the trailbulders here. A great introduction to MTB for first timers with just the right amount of climbing mixed in with some fast non-technical descending. Definitely one to take your non-riding mates/other halves out on.
One gripe concerns the level of technical riding, which is fairly average, especially on the black. Not a big deal (it's not like the black needs to get that much harder) but The Hub's marketing of this trail as one of the most challenging in the UK is bewildering, after a few rides you could clean it up on your kid sisters bike. This is mostly down to the climbs, which are tough up-hill grinds with zero technical challenge.
Nit-picking aside, an impressive trail system that is deservedly one of the most popular in the UK
Recommended Route: Black, red for a quick spin after work, blue with the missus
Other recommended trails in the same area: Innerliethen, the Pentland hills have some fine aerobic stuff
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Review Date January 7, 2004
Overall Rating 5 of 5
Aerobic Difficulty 5 of 5
Technical Difficulty 5 of 5
Ridden Trail: Ridden Once
Reviewed by: Scott Ramsay
,
Weekend Warrior
, from Bristol
Summary: I was up in Scotland over xmas and had the pleasure of 3 visists to Glentress.
The red route has a nice mixture of fireroad and singletrack climbing. None of the climbing is overly technical but there are a lot of switch backs.
The descents are fast flowing singletrack with bermed turns and jumps. Grin inducing stuff. It took about and an hour and a half to complete
The black run is somewhat longer. Again the climbing is a mixture of fireroads and singletrack. The single track climbing is more technical than the red route but is well within the reach of any competent rider.
The black downhill is much more technically demanding than the red. Lots of rocks, tight switchback, drops etc. It ws snowing when we did this and it took about 3 hours in total
Recommended Route: Red for fast fun descending
Black for those wnating a more technical and bigger aerobic challenge - Ratings for the black.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Had a day in the Pentlands which was top.
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4.78 of 5
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