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Hi all
So we’ve booked a week staying in grantown on Spey in early July.
Where’s good for riding round there? We’ve chosen it largely cos my wife wants to go to the rspb place nearby and some walking, but I’ll be taking the gnarpoon. It looks like there may be some stuff in the local woods according to Trailforks. Is the nearest trail centre laggan? Is that worth a look while we are there?
Also how bad will midges be?
Midges possibly awful but meh
Theres laggan and glenlevit i think. Ask the lads at basecamp bikes.
Nice one Ta
There's also a small bike park in Grantown itself.
watching with interest - I'll be there with the family about the same time too. I know the riding around Aviemore can be very good, glenlivet is worth a trip (if only for the cakes), and laggan is indeed great (though its been years since I was there)
There are some good trails (IIRC) up behind Grantown beyond the caravan site / railway line. Also a ton of little singletrack in the woods by the Spey (plus some man-made stuff). Trail centre would be Glenlivet as closest. As duncan says, go into Basecamp for further local info.
Trails also by Dulnain Bridge, Carrbridge and High Burnside - towards and a shed-laid beyond Aviemore of course.
Laggan is also good, and there's the extra sections over the road now.
Love Grantown,..stayed there for the last few summers.
There are some good trails (IIRC) up behind Grantown beyond the caravan site / railway line.
Nice trails, good for a mornings fun
High Burnside trails behind Aviemore are a must, some really nice trails over at Badaguish/Glenmore as well.
Also, only 50min drive from Ballater...i went over for the day to ride Heartbreak ridge and mastermind
I'm not local, but there are loads of good bits in most of the woods round town, I guess strava/trailfoks covers most of the "built" stuff pretty well. Loads of nice old singletrack through the woods, and always a few new bits seeming to pop up/being dug to scratch the more radical itch makes it pretty easy to follow your way around on either side of town for an evening/morning. Also can be linked to the moors going north with estate tracks (decent "gravel" riding this way if that's your thing), and more "classic" XC bashes over Cromdales way or out towards Nethy and beyond.
Other built stuff close at hand around Carrbridge woods, then Aviemore is more or less a trail centre with Burnside nowadays and all the other stuff thereabouts. You can link either of these from Boat of Garten end of the road and there's a few wee gems in the woods there too. But Laggan is very good (esp. the "brown" side) and Glenlivet is better than the bad rep it gets from people spoiled rotten by Tweed Valley trail centres.
Big days out into the hills from town are possible, but it's a bit of a schlep to get the the core of the Cairngorms so worth travelling to the start of those type of trips if strapped for time.
Can recommend the No7 Bistro if you’re after a nice restaurant whilst you’re there
Stuff up the back of caravan site also pop into The Craig Bar for a pie or a pie👍
Grantown East for pizza.
Blonde Bakery (ex Mountain Cafe) for cake.
Excellent tips. Thanks peeps. Sounds like I can’t go wrong really. Not been this far north for years, really looking forward to it.
Apologies in advance 😉
Laggan is very good
Yes, it's amazing. Beautiful forest and rocky gnarr abound. Most challenging TC I've been to apart from Golspie. Go there. (Kids also loved it, but didn't do the black)
Glenlivet is better than the bad rep it gets from people spoiled rotten by Tweed Valley trail centres.
No. Just no. It's not better than anything apart from perhaps the A9 southbound on a Sunday evening. Had it been built 25 years ago then it would have been a pretty good pioneering attempt. To have all the UK knowledge that we have, seen what Golspie village produced for pennies, and then come up with the Glenlivid trails as the final product is unforgivable.
( I'm not a fan)
It's a little known fact that there were actually two different crews building the Glenlivet red trail, working independently. When they came to stitch them together they realised than the end of one led into the end of the other ( instead of the start). So they just turned all the signs around on the other section and have it running backwards. That's why there's so many little jumps on the uphill sections.
True story bro.
Glenlivet have a couple of rather tasty trails in the pipeline...
I'll do a big thumbs up for the Craig Bar in Grantown
If you’re in Grantown then I’d definitely visit the Glenlivet trails. Wouldn’t make them a focus of a day, but make a nice early morning or evening ride to fit between family plans. Blue loop is way more fun than the red, and I could loop that happily for a hour or two.
Current red is a missed opportunity but the place has so much potential.