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Quite simply are there any decent trails in Ayrshire, more specifically in the area between Prestwick, Kilmarnock and Irvine!
Thing is I'm a native of this area, and when I head Home I usually like to take a bike with me, sometimes the road bike, but I prefer to take the MTB. I've looked around for some trails in this area but haven't been able to find any. When I go out riding I'd rather not have to load up the car and drive to the trails (I suppose I was spoiled when I lived in Bristol and Cardiff in having decent trails within 5 minutes of where I lived). Hence the reason I'm looking at this specific area!
So are there any Ayrshire locals out there who can point me in the right direction??
Gratuitous opportunity to post this:
To be honest ... as I say in the video, there isn't many hills in that area you describe. Walkers cycling is based out of Kilmaurs and whilst they do go to the Irvine area, quite a lot of their routes are more inland of Kilmarnock. The nearest they use is probably Craufurdland which is based out of Fenwick and is a kind of Walkers Cycling club arrangement to use the land on the estate.
You certainly can string out rides though, trawling google maps means you should be able to string paths and stuff together.
If you're looking for hills, then you need to go to them. I live in Largs, so there are hills around me, but don't expect Glentress type trails, you have to make em quite a lot of the time.
What type of MTB riding are you looking to do? Serious stuff or more XC trails type stuff ?
I'm working down in Ayrshire at the moment, I saw a couple of proper mountain bikers getting kitted up beside their car on the B780 road just outside of Dalry. No shortage of hills around there, I guess they were off somewhere. Either that or they were stealing the bikes, but they looked like bikers.
Thanks for that, looks like the Beach Park then along between the pulp mill and Shewalton Moss?? So there is some hope!
Basically I'm from Dundonald, to date I've been playing around Dundonald Woods and down to Troon when I've been home, not much scope there. I know of the guys at Walkers and there's now Sprockets in Kilmarnock, so it might be worth me picking their brains some time!
I have to admit that I like XC type stuff, so I'm not too bothered about big descents! As I said I was spoiled when I lived around Bristol and I where I currently live in Derbyshire isn't too bad either!
Well, out of Dalry, your into the hills. They've just built wind farms on the hills up there ... with long, very fast access tracks. There are footpaths that can be ridden on the hills around there too. Same with largs. Went down the track recently and struggled for the bike to keep its grip due to the speed even in a straight line.
But, its outwith the triangle given. You need to go to the hills...
Misty Law out of Lochwinnoch
Hills between Lochwinnoch and Largs, via Kilmacolm. .. a bit chilly mind...
sections of the river ayr way are fun- but you can clock up a few road miles turning it into circuits. Theres some nice small loops to be made at Failford Gorge and a good run to do between Sorn, through Catrine, under Ballochmyle Viaduct to Haugh. Upstream from Sorn has good bits too although sections get drowned in foliage in the summer. The river path running downstream from Muirkirk (in fact the path abandons the river for a fair stretch and heads up the hill side) intersects a few other nice tracks too
For something a bit more uppy-downy, Burn Anne Walk, running between Threepwood and Galston is nice, the ups are best done on the road though.
A lot of these are fairly new built paths so they won't show up on OS maps etc