MTB: 7stanes Innerleithen
What: 19km (12mile) Black graded XC trail and a multitude of Downhill options, close to the mega trail centre of Glentress, but well worth a visit in it's own right. Around 12 miles of hardcore climbs, singletrack, drop-offs and berms - definitely one for the expert rider and rated as a Black route (usually reserved for downhill courses)
Where: Innerleithen, Tweed Valley, Scotland.
View Larger Map
Links: www.7stanes.gov.uk
Trail Report
If trail centres were confectionery Innerleithen would be a bumper family bag of Liquorice Allsorts. And I really like Liquorice Allsorts because you never get too much of a good thing. Bored of those square brown, black and white ones? No problem, just fish out one of those pink hundreds and thousands covered fellas, or one of the old skool liquorice sticks.
Traquair XC at Innerleithen offers the same kind of pick-and-mix variety. Situated just a few miles from the gravitational centre of Scottish mountain biking, Glentress, the smaller and unassuming Innerleithen has bags of surprises around every corner. If you want climbing, you've got it in spadefuls. Twisting singletrack through pine forests? Check. Silly-grin rollercoaster descending? It's all included in the deal.
We came to Innerleithen on the day of the NPS Downhill, so the small forest clinging to the side of the valley above the meandering River Tweed had been turned into a nomadic DH village, with all the usual trappings of a national level event. However, I can imagine that the trail is a quiet and tranquil place on a normal day.
Traquair kicks off with a serious switchbacking singletrack climb, straight out of the car park, which immediately sets the tone for what's to follow. I consider myself an average, if enthusiastic mountain biker, and I found the opening climb had the perfect balance of gradient and technical challenge, with switchback turns requiring gentle application of power to avoid washing out the front tyre. Like all well constructed trails, this took your mind off the climbing by giving other stuff to focus on. If that wasn't enough you had some great views across the ever present panorama of the Tweed Valley, with the river arcing through it and the village of Innerleithen close by.
Then came Stell Burn Climb, which was similar in character to the opening climb, but with the difficulty level tweaked up a notch - every few yards tricky rock step ups and down were there to catch out errant pedal strokes and poor technique. All great fun though, and once again taking your mind off the gradual increase in height.
The next section introduced another variety - Taniell Contour Trail did exactly what is said on the tin, following the contour lines around the hillside with religious zeal, rough and rocky before getting seriously knarly at the finish with a huge bomb-hole section followed by a choice of jumpy or North Shore lines to the fireroad below.
Normally fireroad is a tiresome, bland but often necessary trail centre ingredient but in this case it was a welcome relief from the 100% singletrack of the first few clicks. It was a time to take on fluids, take in the wonderful valley views and have a chat, all the time winching our way toward the next singletrack section - Lead Mine Climb, where the trail continued to gain height, this time through pine forest peppered with lush grassy glades, striking in and out of clearings and sunlit patches. This section merged with the Clattering Path, a public right of way, with more gentle climbing on endlessly varied and interesting trails. At this point the trail split, with a short cut cutting out the signature Minch Moor climb, leading directly to the Enduro Trail descent. Not wanting the sully the purity of our Innerleithen experience, we plumped for the full hit, including Minch Moor - and we were glad we did, for it proved to be the literal and visual high point of the ride.
Narrow, twisting singletrack all the way up across open heather moorland right to the trig point at the top of the hill at 567 metres above sea level, where we rested our bikes on the cairn, donned an extra layer, took on vittles and prepared for a good few kms of descending. The views from the top of Minch Moor made every pedal stroke of climbing worthwhile - a 360 degree panorama of the Southern Uplands. But it was the view directly before our front wheels that we were paying more attention to as we started the long descent from the top of the Minch. The descent started quick and loose and got faster, rougher, twistier and more berm infested before spitting us out at the top of the Enduro descent, where the Minch shortcut rejoins the trail.
Hardly had we caught our breath before we hit more descending, this time even more rocky with rock steps and drop offs and launch pads around every turn. For the faint of heart (that's me!) there were chicken runs around most of the drop offs - one of which is a pretty serious 2ft blind drop - watch out! If you're not sure of what's coming get ready to stop and take the easier option. The Enduro Trail eventually spits you out onto a fireroad section - a short climb before a level section with great Tweed Valley views.
Above: Looking down on the sinuous singletrack of Plura Craig
Then followed yet another signature section, Plura Craig, which could be seen twisting and turning way below the fireroad. Rough, narrow and demanding razor sharp concentration, Plura Craig's sinuous flow is interrupted with rocky sections and drop offs, all adding interest to a spellbindingly diverse trail experience. Halfway through Plura Craig the trail divides into red or black graded sections. We chose the red graded option which seemed newer, with a loose but smooth shale surface and some more rock sections and drops along its flowing, fast and twisty length. This merged with the black trail once more and swooped through huge rollercoaster sections before turning uphill to the fireroad.
This last section of fireroad let to the final downhill of the day, back to the trailhead. Rough, rocky and very tight in places the descent switchbacked down the valley side with more steep drop-off sections and big berms keeping the adrenaline levels high right until the end.
All in all a hugely enjoyable trail with an amazing mix of surfaces and challenges. The Traquair XC feels like a number of trailbuilders have come together and each of them has had a free hand in designing their own section, creating a trail with endless interest and challenge.
Innerleithen doesn't have the trappings of the big trail centres such as Glentress a few miles down the road, or the Coed y Brenin complex in North Wales. There's no bike hire, bike wash or trailhead café/retail experience, but the village of Innerleithen is just a few minutes away and has all the amenities and places to trough after a hard day on the trails. We were staying further afield and opted for the local delicacy of battered haggis and chips from a fine establishment in Moffat, washed down with an Irn Bru, rounding off a quality day on the trails.
Verdict : Forrest Gump famously said that life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. If Forrest had been a mountain biker, I think he'd have very much liked Innerleithen.
Second Opinion
One big up and one big down, Innerleithen has the simplest of profiles. Climb for a long time, descend for approximately half as long. Load up bikes and go off and purchase Haggis and Chips. End of story.
Good points are some of the early climbing where the trail designers have added a few small technical challenges to break the monotony. Above about the 300m contour, the views become increasingly stunning and the atmosphere and beauty of the upland heather moor on the upper slopes of Minch Moor is well worth the effort. As are the views from the very top of the moor.
Bad points are the rather bland nature of much of the trail. The descents are largely heavily man made with very smooth surfaces. This makes them quick and the occasional drop offs and mini rock gardens come along like jumps at a steeplechase - short, sharp and, for the unwary or reckless, potentially dangerous - but widely spaced with little of note in between.
It's an odd approach to trail building, requiring you to switch on and off your technical riding skills like a tap. The final stretch down to the trail head is all about big jumps, table tops and drop-offs: hairy tackled unseen and fast on a hardtail; fine for those who know the trail and equipped with plenty of boing at front and back. Only, problem is that the hardtail is the ideal bike for that huge climb to Minch Moor, which would be, shall we say, protracted on a full susser!
Also on site are several fine downhill options, really tough and technical, with uplift facilities second to none in this country. But overall, it was a fine 90 mins to 2 hours of riding, but without any real level of challenge or signature feature, apart from that view from the top! Go along on a day when there's a Downhill race and combine the ride with some spectating!
Ridden this route? Let us know what you think below...
Everyday Community Comments
Share this article with your favourite social networking sites.