1 ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND
Think of great Scottish riding and you’ll probably conjure up craggy peaks on the Isle of Skye, the white stone singletrack of Torridon, or the wild tracks around the Tweed Valley. It’s no surprise honeypots like this draw riders from across the globe, but has it been at the expense of the rest of Scotland? Have we been missing the trails for the trees?
Undoubtedly yes, argues Scottish Cycling’s Anna Riddell, who reckons we should really turn our attention to the east. “Aberdeenshire is one of the hottest emerging destinations that perhaps has seen less traffic than the iconic Tweed Valley and Fort William destinations,” she says.
On paper Aberdeenshire certainly looks good – it’s one of the most mountainous parts of Scotland, let alone the UK, dipping right into the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. And it’s also rich in forested, hilly and mountainous woodland, the kind of terrain where mountain bike trails flourish. A bit like the Tweed Valley then.
“In some ways it is similar in that they both have an abundance of ‘enduro’ type trails but the landscape, soil type and trail character are very different,” Will Clarke from Scottish Cycling says.
The Cairngorms arguably go one better though. Formed from grippy granite, the bedrock lets the trails drain well and it retains your traction even when wet. There’s less rainfall in the east of Scotland, Anna tells me, as the storms tend to slide over the western parts and dump their rain there. “It’s significantly drier, so you can have a reasonable chance the trails aren’t going to be too boggy, whenever you
come,” she says. “There are great trails here and it’s good to discover new destinations and a fresh place to ride.”
The trail network in Aberdeenshire is truly vast, with over 1,500 trails spread throughout the region offering more than 13,000m of descending through massively varied terrain and scenery. You’ll find the bulk of the best riding in the National Park, centred around towns like Braemar, Ballater, Banchory and Aboyne, but there are trails outside too.
“Most of the towns have a trail network supported by great specialist bike shops and bike-friendly local businesses,” Will says.
The riding is technical singletrack – don’t think jumps, think natural woodland trails, rock slabs and rolls, steep and rooty tracks, in ancient woodland and deciduous forests.
The trail that kills it for Will though is called Heartbreak Ridge, at Ballater. “It’s a big loop, leaving from the middle of Ballater, and at the top the ridgeline itself is about 3.5km long, before you drop in and finish in the woodland below,” he says. “It’s a mixture of fast sections with big views and slabby granite, to technical woodland. I’d also have to say the Pitfichie is well worth a visit, it’s an iconic spot for downhill and enduro trails with big slabs.”
Aberdeenshire sounds like mountain bike heaven. It’s less well-known and therefore quieter than the famous mountain bike spots to the south and west. The weather’s drier, the hills are higher and there are more trails than you could possibly ride in a year.
That makes it our top spot to ride in 2022. Head to dmbins.com for more information on trails, where to stay, and how to respect Scotland’s open access laws.
IT’S LESS WELL-KNOWN AND QUIETER THAN FAMOUS SPOTS TO THE SOUTH AND WEST