Scotland

Mabie offers green, blue and red routes as well as a skills area with a 300m freeride line. ‘The Dark Side’, a trail composed of technical North Shore woodwork, is now permanently closed, but there’s still plenty of magnificent singletrack to sample in this scenic forest.

Situated just a few miles east of Glentress, Innerleithen is the preserve of the more experienced rider. There are awesome DH trails littering the hill, a challenging XC route and, if you look carefully, some of the best off-piste trails you’ll ever be lucky enough to ride, some of which are now world-renowned Enduro World Series tracks. There’s a new shuttle service provided by Adrenalin Uplift.

Glentress is hugely popular, and with good reason. Situated just an hour outside of Edinburgh, in the Tweed Valley, it’s home to 73km of waymarked trails, with something to suit every ability. Further adding to Glentress’s appeal is the fact it can be combined with a visit to Innerleithen, its 7Stanes sister centre just down the road.

With the trailhead situated at the square in the centre of the village, Newcastleton is a great place to head to for a day out. None of the trails are overly difficult, but they have a real ‘out in the wilds’ feel.

Fort William’s Nevis Range is famed as a World Cup venue and all three race courses (DH, XC and 4X) are open to the public to ride. There are also skills loops, XC trails and green and blue descents accessed from the forest road. If you really want to test your skills, you can jump on the gondola to ride The Red Giant, a singletrack descent packed with 543m of gravity-fed fun, or take on the ultimate challenge – the World Cup downhill track!

Ae Forest is a legendary downhill race venue and there are two DH tracks – one natural and tech, and the other more jumpy and flowing. It also has three XC loops – a green, a blue and a red, the latter of which is a challenging one, at 24km. With such a varied blend of trails for both beginners and more experienced riders, along with a new uplift service, Ae has something for everyone.

Home to ‘McMoab’, a huge granite outcrop reached by traversing slabs and boulder causeways, Kirroughtree has some fantastic natural features that make for a unique ride. A new blue/red trail section has been added this year – ‘Kirri Crossover’, 500m of sheer delight that twists up above the Bruntis Loch and drops down through a series of berms to link back to the original trail.

Located near the coast, Dalbeattie has a great range of tracks given that there isn’t a huge amount of elevation to be found. The most famous feature is a 14m-high lump of granite called The Slab – venture onto the red-graded Hardrock trail and you’ll soon find yourself rolling down it. The expanses of rock really define the riding here.