You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I’m taking my son to watch the downhill, bmx and shortrack xc.
For the bmx, we’ll be driving down from Fort William on the Sunday morning. Thinking it might be best to park the van and get a train in to the city centre. Have had a quick look but not sure where’s best to do this from – any suggestions?
After the downhill and BMX, we’ll want to stay for 5 days somewhere within easy reach of Glentress.
Having never been in the Glentress area, we’ve found a place in Hawick which is about 45 minutes drive away. Not sure if that’s a good place to be for other riding? The boy likes trail centres with reds and blacks ideally. Given Glentress is going to be closed for the World Champs, where else should we go and where would you stay?
Innerleithen is a smashing place with tons of riding. We normally stay at Cleikum Mill Bunkhouse. 5 miles from Peebles.
Are you looking for a campsite? There's a good pump track at Hawick but not sure what else there is. There's a campsite near me in Newtongrange, that's a bit closer, about 30 mins to Glentress or you could park at Straiton and get the bus if parking at Glentress/Peebles is a hassle. There's riding in the local woods or the Pentlands but it's not trail centre riding.
Cleikum Mill Bunkhouse looks great! Fully booked for our dates though but will bookmark that for the future - thanks!
Ideally looking for a roof over our heads as we'll have been camping for a couple of nights but open to camping or static caravan type places.
There's a premier Inn just up the road on the A7.
The second one might be ok? The first one is just a campsite I think
I'm not sure about the trails being closed at Glentress, there's bound to be some open- the parking will be closed though. That's not a problem you can ride in from Peebles in ten mins or so along the railway path and finish up on the Janets Brae off piste trails, which are great
Glentress will be under full control of ESO for the duration of the event (I can't remember if it's 2 or 3 weeks :/ ), and I'd guess in the week running up to the event, the trails will be pretty much closed to everybody.
I'm told there will be shuttle buses from parking areas in Eddleston, Peebles, and Walkerburn.
If you've not booked accommodation by now, I'd very much doubt you'll get anything nearby.
Might be worth considering something Dumfries direction for a couple nights.
You could try looking for accomodation in Galashiels or Selkirk.
From Gala you can take your bikes on the X62 bus to Glentress and Innerleithen if parking is going to be an issue. There are even a couple of trails up Gala Hill for some evening entertainment
From Selkirk you can drive over to Gala to catch the X62 bus as above or you can cycle directly to Yair or Bowhill
I'd doubt that the entire forest will be used for the races, it's a big place.. When the main entrance is closed off there's easy access via Soonhope to the western off piste trails and from there into the rest of the trails
Two carparks on the edges of Peebles, one north and one to the west. No idea if they'll be charging for them.
The other is just outside Innerleithen which will be handy to ride the Innerleithen trails.
Breaking news - I just booked an Air BnB in Innerleithen, happy days! I did have accomodation already booked months ago in Peebles but that got cancelled when the owner decided to sell up.
Thanks for the tips so far folks. So is Innerleithen trail centre worth a couple of visits? Not sure how it compares to places I know like Afan, Coed-y-Brenin, Forest of Dean - all of which wed happily do a couple of days at.
Inners is great. Just be aware its a steep start. Following the trail it's pretty much all up then all back down. Taking in the natural stuff and DH trails breaks it up a bit.
Gypsy Glen loop starts at Cardrona, worth a look