[Closed] Easier Tweed Valley Trails

Angry sheep and green wing would be a good start at Inners also climb up to Minch Moor and decent. All on Trailforks

Showing friends around for the first time this week and was planning on starting with this loop covering the above. Once you get down to Angry Sheep just loop back up the fireroad to repeat along with Green Wings.

I was thinking of posting a similar thread. I want to experience the Golfie for the first time but I'll be going with my girlfriend and she won't ride the really steep stuff.

Any family friendly loops appreciated especially if they have an easy opportunity for a gnarly detour.

Golfie trails now are numbered 2-5 for difficulty level on Trailforks. Family friendly loops you’d be better off over at Inners you’ll still find some testing trails dropping off fire roads. Glentress has some good gems as well not far off the usual trail stuff

Sam, stick to angry sheep, green wing and a salmons journey, all superb, she'll be fine.

Get an uplift booked, it's brilliant, all the dh trails are within her capability btw, all rollable and not steep like golfie side.

Golfie wise i would say new york new york , big baw and flat white would make a good easier introduction to that part of the valley . Maybe repeat offender as well although that does get a bit steeper towards the bottom .

Inners wise obviously as mentioned angry sheep and green wing and maybe mince baby mince is worth adding on , also dont discount the downhill trails , that part of the hill is covered with trails and if you choose ones that cut across the hill they dont get that steep .

Glentress off piste is generally easier i would say  , mast of zorro , zoom or bust , daves trail and ho chi minh are all not really steep with trailfairy plan and five year plan being on the steeper side .

For a none trail centre type ride the gypsy glen descent is brilliant and not to difficult .

Brilliant thanks everyone, really helpful and plenty to go at. She's asked on a female mtb Facebook group, which she hadn't mentioned and got very similar suggestions.

Gypsy Glen is already planned, a friend who did Boarders 300 a couple of years ago suggested it was good.

Will look into the uplift Greg, good suggestion 😁

Second the trail suggestions for GT.

Plus Mild Peril, Hush Hush and possibly Cock Weasel.

I'd avoid the Golfie if you want easier stuff, I've taken a few folk down there and most folk that aren't used to riding steep trails find it hard. Saying that New York, New York is the easiest then Flat White (its a bit blown out at the moment though). Repeat offender is mint but its long and if you do the full trail you end up back at the golf course so have a 30 min climb back up. Easier trails at GT, hush hush/five year plan is a great wee trail but it is loose and fast, its is relatively steep as well with a 28% gradient although not in the same league as Trail Fairies which is one of the harder trails at GT. Loads of other stuff though like mild peril, mast of zorro etc are all relatively easy. You'll have to do a lot of climbing though.

So thanks to everyone for the input, we have a rough plan as follows.

Glanetress red, followed by Ho Chi Min, Zoom Or Bust, Daves Trail and Happy Ending.

Golfie for NYNY, 3G, Flat White and the bottom bit of Repeat Offender. I'll probably then head up for a full go at Repeat Offender.

Gypsy Glen and a bit of Glentress Blue added in.

Inners loop, pretty much as frogstop posted above, basically the red with Angry Sheep & Green Wing thrown in.

Plus a walk up and around Cademuir Hill one day.

I can't bloody wait 🙂

Awesome, have a great weekend Sam.

At the bottom of Dave's Trail / Janet's Brae you can head back along the cycle path towards GT and turn left up the first fire road to repeat it or take in the variations. Only takes about 10 mins.

Thanks Greg, sure we will.

Thanks for the tip chakaping.

"Only takes about 10 mins."

That's certainly optimistic!

Don't forget the new turns off Dave's trail- easy to spot though, just look left after the mini climb as it opens up.

Careless whisper is also well worth a lap on that side of GT and there's a couple of less well known trails in the Soonhope valley that are less well known for various reasons

Fathomer is in good shape, he'll romp up there in no time.

@chakaping 🙂 I assumed you meant back to the top of Dave's Trail, 10 mins about right. Back to the top of Ho Chi Min, not a chance!

Yep, just to the fort.

Got that, KOM to the fort is 11 mins by a wee xc whippet though!

Trails should be dry but now too dry today, bit roasting though- glad I'm WFH not riding

glad I’m WFH not riding

Said no one ever

Can't do heat, and there's always another day..

Would a 100mm fs with some chunky tyres be ok on theses trails
I have the second week of September booked off and am unsure of ehat to do

Plan a is sdw, downs link, ndw, kent coastal path, sdw home

Plsn b is gt, inners, plus some of the above

Plan c is mabie, Dalbeattie then north ish

Would a 100mm fs with some chunky tyres be ok on theses trails

Yes. I used to do these loads on a 100mm hardtail.

*edit* I was referring to the Tweed Valley trails, there's not much in the valley that would be very scary on such a bike.

Oh yeah forgot about Careless Whisper, really nice wee trail, good value and not spicy. Wonder if Jailbreak will ever get finished?

So just to say thanks to everyone. We rode pretty much what I posted above. The valley's got some amazing trails and I imagine we only scratched the surface. Trying to work out when we can go back!

Some pics if anyone cares.
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Great pics. Glad you had a good time. 😃

Awesome mate!

Got a gpx of trails i could use?

Plan is to drive up sat 12th sept
3 days intweed valley gt, inners plus something different
Then drive to Newcastleton then do a loop there and on to Dumfries
Then mabie, kirroughtree and possibly the big country loop but that might be hard going on a ripmo or something thats not actrail center in the borders.
Then home sat 19th

I wouldn't bother with Newcastleton tbh, it wasn't great when it first opened, there's so much better riding in the valley, or go over to Drumlanrig, and the off piste stuff at Ae, which is brilliant.

There's a cracking loop out of Drumlanrig too, up SUW into Leadhills/Lowthers and down the old school awesomeness of the Enterkine pass. A grand day oot.

@singletrackmind are you a Strava user?

Yes i am, is the heat map the way to go, or is the trail forks shonky map good enough?

Top tips about GT, we're there this weekend and I'm going to ride Yair tomorrow while the OH has an interview but I might drag the fella back to GT to check out some of those I've not done before on either Saturday or Sunday.