Route guides Kirroughtree

How to get there::From Glasgow, the quickest way to go is through Ayr, towards Girvan. Once through Girvan, follow the seemingly endless road to Newton Stewart. After reaching the main street, pick up the signposts for the forest (approx 3miles from centre). Expect this journey to take 2 1/2 hours to glasgow.

A relatively new addition to the seven stanes project certainly had to be worth the 2 1/2 hour trek from Glasgow..... Didn't it????

The trail has four different options green (very easy/families), Blue (novice mtb'ers), red (for your average day out) an of course black for the hardcore. Download official 7 stanes Map.

We started from the large car park at the visitor's centre which is currently under construction and is large enough to accommodate plenty of cars. The first section of the red/blue outward route is a fairly uneventful climb through some single-track. Typical seven stanes, nothing like a wee climb right from the outset to get you warmed up. The trail is new and therefore is pretty flat and even, through time this will improve. The mixture of fire road a singletrack at this section seemed to actually be a bit boring to say the least, however it is pretty free-flowing with little need for stop/start.

Leaving the red route at "hissing sid" and joining the black route certainly brightens things up. Here the singletrack becomes typically more technical and brings your dulled senses back to life. It just seems as if you are constantly climbing and we were mistaken to think that "stairway to Heaven" might actually be DOWN stairs...... we were wrong, and climbed onwards and upwards through some quality pieces of trail building with some occasional fire road thrown in for respite.

Then there is McMoab. And worth the ride it certainly is. This granite slabbed play are is MASSIVE. As soon as you join the bottom of McMoab, you start to realize that this is a super grippy surface even in the wet. Although it's probably not the best surface to fall on. Someone has even taken the time to paint little arrows all the way across all the sections to give you a helping hand in choosing the best lines. This was certainly the highlight of the day for us, with Kirk Rabbit foolishly thinking that one of the little recessed sections filled with water was not that deep...... That was until he fell head over bars and stood up knee deep. Quality Mr Kirk. i reckon you could spend an hour or so just exploring all the different lines and conquering all the little drops and hops.

Inevitably, you have to drag yourself away and continue on. You will now be face by the suitably named "Heartbreak Hill". Say no more just climb, climb and climb. Punishment for all the fun you just had. Once you have regained your breath at the top and restored your heart ate back to somewhere near normality, you then encounter "Talnotry Hill" with just rewards. Some excellent wee descents with berms and tight hairpins get the old adrenaline pumping again and you just hammer it until your heart is content back towards the red route loop.

Don't be fooled into thinking that you are heading back towards the red route for an easy ride back to the car park....WRONG There are plenty of energy sapping climbs to be had both before and after the jabberwocky part of the trail. Just be ready for them.

OVERVIEW

This has to be the strangest 7 stane I have ridden. It feels much longer than any of the other black routes and is a pretty uneventfull few hours. However this is only our opinion as we like a little more jumps, berms and drops in our average ride. This trail is well suited for proper cross country riding and is very free-flowing and will improve through time. And as for McMoab !!!!!!! You just have to get there and experience for yourself.