Dave Astley Scottish Trip

Dave’s Scotland
Mountain Bike Holiday 
August 20th -22nd 

I started at Dalbeattie  on the 20th  August with two cycling buddies John and Steve. We thought Dalbeattie a good trail to start with, not too hard, (thoughts are deceiving) We wanted to do this trail in particular as it has a classic trail feature “the Slab” if you have seen it on you tube it looks fairly easy to crack ( looks are also decieving)
 When we started the trail the weather was good, we go about three quarters around and the heavens opened and we ended up in the middle of a big thunderstorm. So as entripid mountainbikers we plodded on untill we were confronted with a submerged northshore section. Al we could see was a protuding skinney about 150 yds ahead, and no other way around but to slowly make our way along the underwater section of North Shore. This was all good and well at first, but as we ventured on the water got deeper and deeper. Untill I was up to my knees in water and my bike was submerged just revieling my seat and handlebars. About half way I couldn’t see the Skinney and I was feeling my way with my feet and it was getting thinner and thinner and deeper, it was at this point I took a photo on my phone of my two mates following me behind.I’m glad to say we made it through without falling in .
We stayed at a great B&B in Castle Douglas called  The Breakpad B&B ran by two keen cyclists Clair and Sam.  Sam also runs the bike shop at Kirroughtree, the food was great, the porridge is particulary good,  good pubs and resturants in the village.They also have a good drying room at the B&B which was greatly appreciated after our aquatic adventure, they are also conviently situated not far from most of the 7 Stanes trails.

Day 2 Kirroughtree:

After a hearty breakfast at the Breakpad ( porridge and Full English) we headed off to Kirroughtree. Luckily it’s far enough to let the food settle before riding. We decided to do the full Red and Black trails wich are well designed singletrack that gives you a feel of natural technical trails (Fab!) This trail features McMoab a large piece of rock you can practice your technical trails skills. I had unfinished business with this piece of Scottish rock, last time I rode it on my hardtail I dabbed 4 times, I wanted to beat it on my Reign, but was beaten again and equaled my dab score from my last visit ( the battle continues).
This is a small portion of McMoab near the end, you can just make out it snaking off to the right of the picture. This rocky outcrop also features another classic piece of riding called The Shute, a near vertical piece of rock about 5m high and about half a metre wide. We didn’t ride it this time as their was a horrendous side wind and the penalty for failure wasn’t worth it. Have a look on You Tube ( also doesn’t do it justice).
After this section time for a wee snack in preparation for another notorious piece of trail called Heart Break Hill (does exactely what it says on the tin).

Another wee rest at the top of Heart Break Hill. 
The views from this vantage point are spectacular, but the single track after is even better and worth the climb, it seems you have miles and miles of good technical natural looking single track , well designed rocky and rooty sections that just keeps coming at you. To finish of the day a visit to the Café for a well deserved cuppa and piece of cake.

Day Three Mabie:

Another day, another breakfast to digest, and the final trail of the holiday Mabie. 
We decided on Mabie for our last trail as it was on the way back home because it’s a smaller trail which we could easily do in a couple of hours. We also wanted to ride the rest of the trail as our last visit we only rode up to the Dark Side, which we decided to give a miss this time, (visit You Tube HARD TAIL DAVE or DARK SIDE) 
I must admit as we started out I wasn’t expecting too much, but as the day went on and the trail revealed its self to us, we all found it one of the best little gems of the 7 Stanes, more of the natural looking sweepy stuff, and at the end the piece de resistance a skills park and dirt jumps, now that’s what I called fun. To cap it all we had no mechanicals or punctures or major offs. All we had to look forward now was a four hour drive home.