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As a fundraising effort for our village park/play area I've committed to doing 100 miles off-road. I was thinking that would be a perfect opportunity to do all the red loops of the 7 Stanes, which adds up to about 110 miles as far as I can tell. I'm under no illusions about my fitness so rather than a 30+hour epic it'll be over a couple of days with an overnight stay somewhere in-between. Anyone done it before and can recommend an order and/or somewhere to stay?
Iirc there was an article in the magazine. Can't remember when though.
Stay in Dalbeattie, or Dumfries.
Mate of mine trained to do all of them, and pedal in between, record is something daft like 20 odd hours...
He trained for a couple of years on and off, but could never get a spell when they were all 100% open, so gave up.
Kirro
Glentrool
Dalbeattie
Mabie
Ae
GT
Inners
Newcastleton
Would be a fairly obvious order....
Nah.
Shirley Newcastleton, inners, GT in that order at the end?
Aye, tbh that was the bit that's actually no obvious, and I couldn't be arsed checking map. That and I'm sure OP is English, so finish nearer home... 😊
I think Rob Lee (former Elite XC racer) did it, riding between all of them and a lap of the Red at each.
Jason Miles (@terrahawk on here) has probably done something similar, it's the kind of challenge he'd be up for.
As most are in the SW corner, it makes sense to start/finish there. Unless you go for places like Laggan and Golspie as well but they're not officially "7 Stanes", just "trail centres".
Tbh, I'd probably patch glentrool and do drumlanrig instead.
I'd probably start with the purple at glentrool which is very good for a morning wake up followed by a bacon buttie, then kirroughtree, Dalbeattie, mabie, ae, gt/inners, Newcastleton/keilder.
I made a go of it a few years ago, ticked off the first four black at kirroughtree red at Dalbeattie and mabie and frankly, I'd had enough for a day. Day 2 should have been drive to ae then gt inners and drive to Newcastleton to do the long loop into keilder on day 3.
In practice I ended up doing ae and then a loop at drumlanrig including the red there and a pedal up and out to the radar station near walnock head.
I didn't fancy day 3 after that.
That and I’m sure OP is English, so finish nearer home… 😊
Guilty as charged but I live in Fife now. Doesn't really make too much difference where I finish as it's a good 2-3 hours home from any of them.
Sounds a fantastic idea, Ox...send me the donation link and I'll chuck a few quid in the pot!
That's a fair grand view
Was a cracking couple of hours, we'd been visiting friends in Glasgow, went long way home via Lowther hills.
I've a hankering to do that loop out of drumlanrig up there and down enterkin pass now....
Cheers DickBarton!
Link is: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/team-oxley-strathstride2020-1
We're at about £73k of £112k so far, and every little will help. Some of the park equipment was deemed unsafe by Fife council so they took it down but there were no plans to replace. My wife took that as a cue to sort it out herself and so here we are.
Ta...have donated...best of luck with the funding and enjoy the rides!
In case you didn't know and to save driving and reparking, it's an easy cycle between GT and Inners down the railway path (I'm sure you're aware though!). Park at Inners and ride up to do GT first perhaps.
Inners isn't one of the 7 stanes though....
There was a 24hr race on the 7 stanes called 24/7 started at Glentrool ended at Glentress you had a 4 person team and had to ride all the red routes and the road sections in between. It was a fun race.
If you let me know when you plan to do your ride I might be able to help with some accommodation. I have a holiday cottage between Dumfries and Dalbeattie from which you can ride to Dalbeattie easily and Mabie at a push. We are pretty busy at the moment but if it is free you can have it as my donation to your fund.
Dogsby
Inners isn’t one of the 7 stanes though….
Away and don’t talk dung. Inners and GT formed one of the seven.
I can't answer your question but,
My then-partner and I once tried to do all 7 Staines in a day. We were fortunate enough to have STW's Jenn as van driver, pit crew and all-round good egg. Ultimately we failed, but we managed five which I'll take as an achievement. Reasons we failed:
1) We wasted too much time decamping the tents and actually getting going, we should either have been up before first light or have left that job to someone else.
2) I don't think our route was optimal. This is why I'm posting really, they're all kinda scattered and I think we'd have clawed back a good chunk of time. What that route was I've no idea now as I'm no longer in touch with my ex and, well, I can't really ask Jenn any more sadly.
3) We didn't have sufficient bike lighting so once we'd lost the natural light it was game over.
I definitely think it's doable though with a little more forward planning and discipline (and ability) than we had. Sorry, that's not much use to you is it.
Would be a fairly obvious order….
Why Kirro before Glentrool?
Aye, you'd do glentrool first then kirro on way along A75, my bad.
Cool cool cool. So looks like I'll be doing West to East and finishing at Glentress. Looking at a couple of days in the last two weeks of August. Thank you for the kind offer Dogsby, if you have a day spare in those two weeks I think that'll cement the date.
Cheers all 👍🏻
I have options on 19/20 or 30/31 Aug but will need to check with the housekeeper to make sure she can get down. Do either dates suit and if so what's your preference?
Dogsby
Inners isn’t one of the 7 stanes though….
GT and Inners used to be lumped together. I got an old Forestry Commision 7 Stanes map with both on. This old map has both too
Inners is on the latest website here https://forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/activities/mountain-biking/7stanes
Not sure what you're on about?
Aye, you’d do glentrool first then kirro on way along A75, my bad.
Mmm, lovely night with the midges at the camp site (either one, they're as infested as each other) to start with. Spent enough holidays there to know that's not a good nights sleep for the unprepared.
I'd advise sticking closer to the coast or at least outside the forest, Glentrool is damp as hell and the little b******s thrive.
30/31 works for me Dogsby. Absolutely no problem if it's not feasible, the offer is enough. I'll find a BnB or maybe even borrow a campervan if needs be. Cheers.
Mmm, lovely night with the midges at the camp site
Camping? christ no, what a horrible thought! Get a night in a nice comfy bed, bugger starting a big days biking wi the peasants!
I’d certainly want to get Ae ticked off fairly early, I rode that in the wet at the end of a holiday week last year and it was a miserable experience.
I’d try and plan the route to get the fun ones in while you’re fresh and finish on the full ones. However logistically speaking I have no idea how that would work.
Aye, it's no great tbh, it's a lot of climbing for some pretty uninspiring descending, though I did really like it when it first opened.
Rough as a really rough thing too. Still, I enjoyed it when I was fitter and Lethe weather was nice.
Ox,
Give me a minute and I'll check it will work.
Dogsby
Ox,
Not good news I am afraid! The frenzy of bookings post the end of lockdown means we are really busy and I can only book the cottage for 2 nights at a time as we run it through an agency and it would cost us £150 to book our own place!
However, I will donate some money to your cause and if you can wait until a little closer to the time (within 2 weeks) if we have no bookings for that night I can book it for free. I appreciate that this might not be convenient and apologies for the confusion.
Dogsby
Me and a mate did this a few years ago.
GT inners newcastleton (overnight hawick) ae, mabie, dalbeattie, glentrool kirroughtree (so we finished at a cafe).
As above glentrool only has green/blue or the big loop.
Managed it in 24 hrs but were arriving at ae as the sun came up having ridden newcastleton in the dark.
Not a problem Dogsby. I'm cool just finding a campsite if needs be. I think I can borrow a campervan so should be all good anyway.
https://forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/activities/mountain-biking/7stanes
Keep an eye on this site for diversions. There is a fair whack missing from Ae atm and Could for some time(Larch disease again)
Might be worth checking your riding time on the trails + driving/unloading/decamping times
Kirry to Dalbeattie, 1hr on a good day(40mph recently!)
Dbt to Mabie,1/2hr
Mabie to Ae 45mins
Ae to Newcastleton?
N’to Inners?
I know it is 1.1/2hrs to GT via Moffat/Broughton.