Mountain Biking in Southern and Central Scotland. Peter Edwards

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      MOUNTAIN BIKING IN SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL SCOTLAND

      by Peter Edwards

      2 POLICE SQUARE, MILNTHORPE, CUMBRIA LA7 7PY

      www.cicerone.co.uk

      About the Author

      Peter Edwards grew up in Sussex and nurtured a love of walking and mountain biking amid the ‘blunt, bow-headed, whale-backed’ hills of the South Downs. Since moving to Scotland in 2006, Peter has found the rolling hill country of the Southern Uplands to be a fine replacement for the hills of home – they’re just bigger and wetter with less folk about! He lives in Glasgow with his wife, Fiona and Dougal the Labrador.

      Other Cicerone guides by the author

      Mountain Biking on the North Downs

      Mountain Biking on the South Downs

      The Hebrides

      Walking on Jura, Islay and Colonsay

      Walking on Rum and the Small Isles

      © Peter Edwards 2016

      First edition 2016

      ISBN-13: 978 1 85284 747 0

      Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

       © Crown copyright 2016 OS PU100012932

      All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated.

      This wee book stands in humble tribute to Dr Colin Begg – aka the ‘Ayrshire Missile’.

      Acknowledgements

      Huge thanks to my companions on the trail: Colin Begg, Sean Botha, Chris Boyd, Daniela Brawley, Brett Collins, Finlay Finlay, Gareth Gordon, Mark Jones and Fiona Rintoul. Thanks to master wrencher, Carl Lottering-Geeson at Bikelove in Glasgow (www.bikelove.co.uk), for keeping my battered bikes trailworthy. Thanks to Sean Benz, author of Mountain Biking in West and North West Scotland (published by Cicerone), for invaluable insights. Thanks also to the team at Cicerone for transforming my words and pictures into such a lovely wee book.

      Thanks once again to my wife, the lovely Fiona Rintoul, for her largely unconditional support, logistical and otherwise. Mountain biking with Labradors is not a great idea.

      Updates to this Guide

      While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guidebooks as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edition. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone website (www.cicerone.co.uk/747/updates), so please check before planning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way can be altered over time. We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe LA7 7PY, United Kingdom.

Emergencies

      Always carry a charged mobile phone with you so that emergency services can be alerted in case of serious injury.

      If you do need to report such an injury, first make a note of all relevant details including location (giving the grid reference if possible), the nature of the injury and your mobile phone number. Then call 999 and ask for both Police and Ambulance.

      Be ready to give the location and nature of the incident and the numbers of any phones carried by the party. Do not change your position until you are contacted by the emergency services.

      The contact details of local Accident and Emergency departments are listed in Appendix B.

      For more information on emergencies and mountain biking safety, see the Safety section in the introduction.

      CONTENTS

       Emergencies

       Map key

       Overview map

       Route summary table

       Introduction

       Mountain biking in southern and central Scotland

       About the routes in this guide

       Centres

       Getting there and getting around

       Accommodation

       When to go

       Safety

       Equipment

       Tools and maintenance

       Navigation

       Hydration

       Food

       Rights of way and other users

       Maps

       How to use this guide

       Abbreviations and symbols used in the route descriptions

       The 7stanes

       Ae Forest

       Dalbeattie

       Glentress

       Innerleithen