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Glentress Mountain Bike Trails
Avg 4.69
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup
Number of Reviews (88)

*You can claim this trail if you are the trail owner

  • Information:
  • Type: Purpose Built Centre
  • Grades: Green,Blue,Red,Black,Orange,Accesible
  • Riding: Cross Country,Skills Area
  • Facilities: Car Park,Toilets,Visitors Centre,Cafe,Bike Wash,Bike Hire,Bike Shop,Showers,Uplift
  • Distance(s): Under 5km, 5-10km, 11-20km, 21- 30km
  • Country: Scotland
  • County: Borders
  • Website: Glentress
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Trail Network & Rider Segments

Trail network status from Trailforks and recent rider segments from Strava (see full mapped routes and details in the Tracks tab).

Trail Status

status via Trailforks.com

Tracks Nearby

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Description

Glentress mountain bike trail center is part of the 7stanes MTB network in the Scottish Borders. It consists of black, red, blue, and green trails as well an area of Green, Blue, Red and Black 'taster trails'.

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Skills Loop

  • The skills loop at Glentress lets you practice and develop your skills before heading out onto the trails. There are timber and rock features and obstacles. It has separate sections graded green, blue and red to aid skill progression across all technical levels. 

Skills Area

  • mini MTB zone
  • roller zone
  • cornering zone
  • drop and tech zones

Green routes

  • The Glentress green trails range from 3.5 to 4.5km in length. they cater for family and beginners. One starts from the Buzzards Nest car park and the other from the Glentress Peel visitors centre. 

Blue route 

  • The blue route at Glentress is made up of an 8km lower (recommended) and an 8km upper loop. You can do them separately or tie them together for the full 16km! Some of the best swooping and flowing sections are Electric Blue, Betty Blue, Blue Velvet and the latest Berm Baby Berm.

Red route

  • The 18km red trail at Glentress is the most popular of all the trails here. Some of the sections of note are Pennels Vennel which is a quick blast of single track, Spooky Wood with kickers, sweeping berms followed by small jumps and flowing tabletops, Super G section with berm after berm and jump after jump, Hit Squad section the most rooty, twisty, technical section of the trail, Pie Run and Magic Mushroom. Look out for the 298-meter red MTB descent called Mild Peril. Like all the trails at Glentress, it is constantly being developed and having sections added. 

Black Trail

  • The 29km black is graded black/severe. This is a challenging, long, and technical epic ride, taking in some of the remoter parts of Glentress Forest, and should only be attempted by experienced riders with expert technical skills.

Glentress Masterplan Trails

  • The Glentress Masterplan trails (Green, Blue, Red and Black Network trails) opened in October 2023 and link into the existing trail network and offer new descents ending just north of the Peel Tower. They can also be sessioned easily by a number of methods from joining the main trail network to using forest roads. The trails pass under the Multi-User Path and constitute 16km of new build.
  • Apple Peel | Green:  The new green graded trail runs along to the Peel building and is ideal for a gentle cruise or anyone starting out in mountain biking.
  • Turn and Burn | Blue: The new blue trail runs very near the Eshiels Burn, and features a considerable number of turns. This one is all about fun with big berms and easy jumps.
  • Smells Like Tweed Spirit | Red: Building on the pioneering Spooky Wood style with a mix of features.
  • Castle Black | Black: Most of our new trails run down the west side of Castle Hill. The new black trail has large jumps and fast for expert riders

Glentress Masterplan Taster Trails

  • Green, Blue, Red and Black Taster trails: These short stand-alone loops begin and end to the south of the Peel Tower and provide a way to sample each grade before committing to a network trail. The shared climb gradually change in difficulty from Green to Black grade as the climb goes on, before splitting at various points to separate Green, Blue, Red, and Black descents.
  • These trails do not link into the main trail network, but can be reached via a Multi-User Path, and can be sessioned easily. These trails also pass under the Multi-User Path.
  • Multi-user Trail: 2.2km Accessible path around Glentress. The Multi-user Trail connects the Glentress Gateway to the café, bike shop, skills area, taster trails and the start of all walking and mountain biking routes. Expect wide, firm gravel path with gentle slopes and various resting points. One section of minor road crossing with a fairly steep side slope. Moderate slope for access between Gateway and café/bike shop. Suitable for Adaptive bikes.

Off-Piste

    • Like most trail centres in the UK as riders skills progress and communities mature there is a network of unsanctioned off-piste trails in the region. These are unofficial. Ride at your own risk.

Volunteer Community

Other Stuff

    • Buzzard's Nest Freeride Bike Park closed permanently in Spring 2023 as part of the Glentress Masterplan but 16km of new trails were built as part of the Masterplan project which opened in October 2023 and built by On Track.

Share

    • If you have ridden any of the mountain bike trails at Glentress then please share your experience with us and the community by posting pictures, videos, and reviews to the listing.
e1m1m1a:
Avg 4.79
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Really well set up trail centre not too far from Edinburgh. Top tip - take pound coins for the parking meter and the jet wash.

What do you like?

You can hire bikes from the onsite bike shop if you don't have your own. The uphill is worth it for the down. Love that it has a jet wash so your bike is clean and dry before you get home. The cafe is great and not too much of a rip off like some places.

What could be improved?

Popular trail centre so can get quite busy. Can be quite interesting when there's snow on the ground! Whether that's a good or bad point will vary from rider to rider, personally not a fan of riding in the snow!

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

09/05/2013 - over 12 years ago

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1
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StupidMonkeyKev:
Avg 5.00
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Glentress - a Mecca for NMTBers

Can keep any keen XC mountain biker happy forever!

What do you like?

Glentress has a proper trail head, showers, cafe, bike shop, bike wash, camping pods, everything you need. The trails are great, the black is challenging, Spooky wood makes anybody and everybody smile. The blue trails have great flow and a experienced rider can carry a lot of speed - seriously, try the blue's they are more fun than you think.

What could be improved?

It takes me 3-4 hours to get there.

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

27/02/2013 - almost 13 years ago

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2
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krisk:
Avg 3.96
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Lots to do

With such a variety of different trails and grades you can easily go there for a quick blast or a full day trip. There are lots of quite technical places so great if you want hone particular techniques. The shop/cafe is all new and clean and everything looks well maintained.

What do you like?

Big place, lots to choose from, laid on in a way where you can easily re do certain bits. SWpooky woods is a great descent. The trails are well marked and in good condition with some interesting options such as skinnies. There are multiple car parks, allowing you to drive further up. The skills area is pretty advanced although some of it was closed when I was there. There were quite a few people around but it didn't feel crowded due to the size of the place.

What could be improved?

The midges. And its far away

Would you recommend?

Date written:

20/12/2012 - about 13 years ago

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0
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stumpy_dan:
Avg 5.00
Grin Factor
Trail Variety
Skills
Trail Quality
General Setup

Glentress the MTB Mecca

For the first few years of riding this was the mtb mecca for me. It has everything and the red and the black sections are both great. There is also a bike skills park on the way which is awesome. Do check out the cafe and there is a great cheap and mtb friendly hotel next door that do a service in washing and drying your kit over night. Nice hey.

What do you like?

Amazing berms, drops, skills variety, fast, flowing, steps, jumps .. everything:)

What could be improved?

Very far from London

Would you recommend?

*Yes*

Date written:

04/12/2012 - about 13 years ago

Was this review helpful to you?

1
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