📌 Mountain bike trails in Carronbridge, Dumfries & Galloway
★★★
🛠️ Blue & red trails open; other trails under long term closure due to storm damage (checked March 2024)
One of the less-known strings to Drumlanrig Castle‘s bow is that one of the castle blacksmiths may have invented the pedal cycle, though history is a little murky on the matter. Assuming the tale is true, it’s fitting that the estate now has an excellent, well-developed network of cycling and mountain biking trails fanning out in all directions from the castle. They’re a worthy rival to the better-known, pace-setting 7stanes mountain biking centres elsewhere in the region. The green-graded routes often follow tarmac lanes, while the Copy Cat blue tends to keep to forest tracks. That leaves most of the exciting single track for the undulating Old School red (plenty of roots, but not too hilly) and much steeper Magic Eight Ball black routes. You can hire bikes by the hour at Rik’s Bike Shed; Rik’s apparently been here since he was on stabilisers – well, nearly – and can offer useful advice on which trails to tackle (he built them!).
View from “Copy Cat” 
Coldstream Loch on “The Three Lochs” 
Singletrack approach to Farthingbank Loch on “The Old School” 
“The Old School” 
Farthingbank Loop on “The Old School” 
Carse Wood on “The Old School” 
Not quite the Champs-Élysées, but it’s not a bad finish for the green, blue & red routes 
A replica of the world’s first pedal cycle, on display in the visitor centre
🌍 Location
📌 Drumlanrig Castle, off minor road 1 mi northwest of Carronbridge
🧭 O.S. Reference: NX 851993
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.274611,-3.809799
🚌 Bus stops on A76 at castle turnoff (1 mi)
🚗 Drumlanrig Castle car park (charge for trail users)
📝 Key info
⌚ Daily
🎫 Free
➡️ Routes: ⬤ 3+13+5+9 km ⬤ 9 km ⬤ 10+5 km ⬤ 8 km. Map 🔗 here – see official website for current diversions / closures
🚲 Hire bikes at 🔗 Rik’s Bike Shed on site – see official website for times
🥜 In a nutshell: Mountain Biking in Scotland
>> Want to know more about Mountain Biking in Scotland in general? Check out our overview page.
