A little bit of information about the ride, where we are going and when.

First and foremost the extracts have been taken from ‘Bikefax, selected mountain bike rides’ Southern Scotland & the Seven Staines. This book is a must if you plan to ride in Southern Scotland, and it is the only place we could find this particular route.

Intro: - This coast to coast incorporates the new face of mountain biking in Scotland i.e. the lowland trail centres.

The 300km (185 miles) trans-Scotland is split into 6 parts, (days) taking us from the Irish Sea at the mouth of the Solway Firth to the North Sea at the mouth of the Firth of Forth.

We’ve split it according to the towns en route for accommodation purposes.

Starting in the Galloway hills over to Drumlanrig Castle, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the highlands given the rugged scenery. There are plenty of moments along the whole of this route where civilisation seems more than a few miles away. Choose to rest and be thankful, or spend your spare time taking on the 7stanes.

This Coast to Coast combines tranquillity with plenty of adrenaline-infused options. Ridden with the right attitude the C2C has many rewards, after all – isn’t this why mountain bikes were invented?

Day 1 Creetown to St John’s Town of Dalry             48km (30miles)

Day 2 St John’s Town of Dalry to Sanquhar              38km (23.5miles)

Day 3 Sanquhar to Drumlanrig                                   30km (18.5miles)

Day 4 Drumlanrig to Moffat                                      50km (31miles)

Day 5 Moffat to Peebles                                             60km (37miles)

Day 6 Peebles to Edinburgh                                       72km (45miles)

Day 1 :- 7^th June 2009  Creetown to St Johns Town of Dalry

The first day of the C2C shows the contradiction of the route. From Creetown quiet roads & old railway paths meander towards Galloway Forest Park, then once in the forest, the new face of cycling hits you with the Kirroughtree Black run. Renowned as one of the best designed singletrack trails there is, the trail can make you feel like a bike god if you get the flow right. At the end of the outward leg of the black run the trail can then make you feel like a simpleton if you fail to master McMoab’s granite challenges.

After Kirroughtree Black run, you experience the oddball of the 7stanes project – the Glentrool trail. Billed as a big day out with big views, the trail winds through the forest park and whilst offering no great technical challenge can hit you with plenty of physical issues. This is a very exposed day and any gaps in preparation will be exploited by the remote trail.

Day 2 :- 8^th June 2009  St Johns Town of Dalry to Sanquhar

The second day of the C2C is a day for relaxing & taking in the surroundings, with less in the way of technical singletrack. This section of the C2C offers plenty of soul rewards as you follow the lochs from Dalry up to the head of the Water of Ken.

Day 2’s ride incorporates more gentle gradients than the previous day and we should be able average a reasonable speed until we join the the forests near Polskeoch. The first half of Day 2 is supposedly quite easy to get under your belt, & the navigational challenge only begins at the top of the Water of Ken, where you begin to deal with more ‘relaxed’ waymarking in comparison to Day 1’s 7stanes waymarkers.

A challenging offroad finale presents itself as you climb over the the hills to the south of Sanquhar. After a singletrack climb that rewards the ability to get into a rhythm, you cross the undulating hills before a long descent through farmland towards Sanquhar. This last section is the day’s reward but can also be your punishment if you lose concentration over one of the stream crossings. You finish by rolling into the market town to refuel, ready for more.

Day 3 :- 9^th June 2009  Sanquhar to Drumlanrig

On the face of it this is an easy day, but don’t let the lesser distance fool you. The ride from Sanquhar to Drumlanrig can require the energy of a ride twice the length if we are unfortunate enough to have the weather against us. There are 3 climbs along the way that will test our lactic acid levels, two of which make the most of grass’s ability to sap your energy. Half way around, you can sit back and enjoy the fact that apart from the odd hiccup, its downhill all the way now and onwards towards the delights of the Drumlanrig trails. Fortunately nobody who rides this trail ever remembers much about the evil climbs at the start of the day, and the minute you begin the descent into the Enterkin, all is forgiven and forgotten. The Enterkin dominates this days riding, and for good reason. A trail obviously maintained more by sheep than humans, it is a real test of nerve as it is often less than a tyre width across with steep-sided valley being your prize if you get it wrong.

Day 4 :- 10^th June 2009   Drumlanrig to Moffat

The hardest part of this day is the start – just try pulling yourself away from Rik’s groomed trails (or the café) at Drumlanrig. At Drumlanrig, you’ll see all that has gone on to create flowing natural-feeling trails. At Ae, you’ll see the face of trailbuilding when diggers are let loose in a forest.

From Durisdeer, Glenaggart sends you into tranquil hillsides and within an hour you feel like your miles from anywhere. On the second half of the ride, Ae forest swallows you up and you can easily an hour at respectable speed eating up forest road on this part of the journey. Once you escape from the forest, the ride still has a little surprise up its sleeve with the ‘crooked road’ which twists it’s way down towards the market town of Moffat below.

Day 5 :- 11^th June 2009   Moffat to Peebles

From Moffat we rejoin the Southern Upland Way. On this stage of the C2C, the trail seems to split itself into two very distinct types of track, the kind that gives you a lot of distance for your energy, and the kind that doesn’t. The energy sapping kind is very weather dependant. Ride it in a sunny spell (fingers crossed) and we’ll eat the miles up, but ride it on a howling wet day and we’ll wonder why Peebles looks further and further away on the map.

There are 3 distinct sections to this day’s ride. Start with the forest ascent from Moffat up to Ettrick Head where you feel miles away from anywhere on its knife-edge  singletrack. After a speedy cruise down a beautiful country road, there is the up-and-over to Tibbie Shiels Inn for a well-earned dinner. Finally, the ascent over Foulbrig leaves another beautiful cruise down the remote Manor Valley towards Peebles.

Day 6 :- 12^th June 2009   Peebles to Edinburgh

The final leg of the C2C is a long day taking you from Glentress over to the Pentland Hills and into Edinburgh along the water of Leith. As the crow flies Edinburgh is only 35km away, but our route doubles this distance to stay away from the traffic and take in some awesome mountain biking terrain.

Dropping out of the back of Glentress, you can tell where the Forestry Commission Scotland land ends and lesser-used trails begin. This is a serene part of the forest which obviously see more deer than humans. Before you know it you lose you height and begin to climb again through an equally tranquil setting, over Cloich Forest to West Linton. Once we have completed the climb up and over the Pentlands, there is a long triumphant cruise down Edinburgh’s waterways and cyclepaths to the Port of Leith.