Drumlanrig

Drumlanrig offers (along with the Highland Wildcat Trails in Golspie and the Comrie Croft Trails near Crieff) a unique mountain biking proposition in Scotland: dedicated trails on a private estate. And right on the doorstep of three of the 7stanes centres, at Ae, Mabie and Dalbeattie.

The trails at Drumlanrig have ben designed, crafted and slowly cultivated by Rik Allsop, who runs a well-stocked bike shop in the courtyard adjacent to the magnificent Drumlanrig Castle.

As well as Rik's Bike Shed, there is also a good tea-room (and a restaurant in the castle), a row of small shops and studios selling arts and crafts, and a cycling museum. Not just any cycling museum, but one that pays tribute to Kirkpatrick MacMillan, who was employed as a blacksmith at Drumlanrig and in 1839, in the nearby village of Keir, emerged from his smithy with the world's first bike.

When MacMillan rode his contraption all the way to Glasgow he was referred to as the 'Devil on Wheels' - and he would doubtless have loved the tight, twisting single-track that weaves in and out of the woodland on the Drumlanrig estate.

These days, Drumlanrig arguably still boasts a 'Devil on Wheels' - Rik. He is something of a legend in Scottish mountain biking and Drumlanrig is his baby. The trails bear his signature: all natural, tight and twisting, and with lots of roots and other natural obstacles.

The development of mountain biking trails at Drumlanrig was a long-term project but there is no doubt that all the hard work is paying off. What exists now is a big - and still growing - network of quality single-track trails which, because of the almost organic methods by which they've been created, are highly resilient and will certainly stand the test of time - and the passage of mountain bikes.

What also helps is that Drumlanrig is blessed with 'the best mineral soil in the world for building trails' - at least according to Rik. What the trails here have in common are roots - lots of them. Riding over them is a skill, Rik points out, and one that he thinks should be developed. At Drumlanrig, you have no choice.

In the course of building the trails he has uncovered old Victorian footpaths, many of them built by the 80 path builders who were employed by the estate at the start of the twentieth century.

The red route quickly darts from a main path into the trees - and the sections of other paths or fireroads to link the single-track all tend to be similarly short. The trails are all well signposted but after a few kilometres you have a choice: continue on the red (a 15.5km loop, but with lots of shortcuts back to base) or take the black diversion, which adds an extra 8kms.

As the trail weaves intricately through the trees, skirts open hillside and passes small lochs, with forays into deep bomb holes, over log jumps, and up short, steep, technical climbs, or longer hairpins, the experience of riding Drumlanrig is so enjoyable because it is so constantly challenging.

It is simply not possible to ride here having disengaged the brain, or left it in the car park. It is what makes the experience so exhilarating. There are plans at Drumlanrig to build a shower block and skills areas, with north shore and also to add jumps and other man-made features. Why? 'Because they’re fun,' laughs Rik.

He also organises a novel uplift service, to the nearby Lowther hills, with guided 15km rides dropping from an elevation of 725 to 90 metres. A real wilderness experience, he says, and suitable for novices as well as experienced riders, for whom the ride can be extended to 35km, with 1,200m of climbing and 1,800m of descending.

Other Info

Routes
Green/Blue – 6 routes way-marked from Drumlanrig Castle
Red – 15.5kms
Black – 23.5kms and ever extending!

Bike Shops/Hire
Rik's Bike Shed 01848 330080

Getting There

Drumlanrig Castle is signposted off the A76, between Sanquhar and Thornhill in the south-west of Scotland.

Distance from
Thornhill - 4 miles
Carlisle - 51 miles
Glasgow - 61 miles 
Edinburgh - 62 miles

Website

• www.drumlanrig.com