Rock and Roller - Dalbeattie

Last day of riding in Scotland for that week and I wanted to make it an epic day.  The choice was between Mabie, Ae and Dalbeattie so I went with the closest to where we were and headed off to Dalbeattie.

Dalbeattie's web page makes a big deal of the rocky outcrops along the trail and some digging on forums and youtube revealed a couple of really steep, black-graded rock sections, all options from the red graded 25km long Hardrock Trail.

It was an early morning start and the car park was deserted when I arrived.  Tightly squeezed into the woods, the car park had a really peaceful air about it, and a useful map of the trails.  Rolling into the start of the trail, the mellow theme continued with a fun but not too technical set of singletrack stretches.  To liven it up a bit I hit all of the rocky obstacles on either side of the trail but my enthusiasm was soon tempered by the first climb of the day.

Ipod firmly plugged into my ears, the trail wound up to the highest point of the day and the views were of rolling low hills and similar forests all around.  The centre is located near the coast and had a fresh feel to the air the day that I was there but at no point could I see the sea itself.


Shortly, on a singletrack descent, and just after thinking that the music may be a distraction, I went right when I should have gone left and ploughed into a cunningly disguised tree stump, launching myself over the bars into the ground.

Ego suitably knocked back to size and bum dusted off, the trail continued and to be fair, took in a lot of fire road.  There were some excellent sections of single track that wound through the forest and on the forest's edge.  One in particular ran through down a gulley and was a rough gnarly section with rocks and small drops, the type of trail that you get more out of the more you put in.

Arriving at the Slab, a 15 meter stretch of step rock, covered in diagonal ruts, I realised it looked a LOT more gnar in real life than on the internet.  I rode down the far left of this section which avoids the majority of the first part of the slab.  Personally, I didn't feel there was much reward and the Slab proves more a test of nerve than a fun section to ride, especially since where the bottom of the slab transitions back onto the forest floor there are crazy braking bumps, making for a harsh re-entry.  I'd like to see black sections filled with jumps and drops, maybe north shore type sections (and not just skinnies!!) instead of just rolling down a big rutted rock face - perhaps this is one case we can all learn from Llandegla!


Despite being named after a low-end Specialized hardtail, the composition of the singletrack sections mean that this is definitely one beast best enjoyed on a full sus rig.  When I arrived at the last section which doubled as a skills loop, and as harsh as this sounds in retrospect, I was left with the feeling that a few laps around that would have been more enjoyable than the bulk of the actual Hardrock trail itself.

The trail was over too quickly for my liking and didn't build up to any epic descents, taking in way too much fire road.  In fact, it would have taken in less fire road that day had I not dodged underneath diversion tape to poach "closed" singletrack so I could experience the whole trail.

My first mountain biking visit to Scotland revealed a clear winner in my eyes - Kirroughtree.  It's red/black combination of the Twister and Black Craigs an absolute winner and one of the best trails I have ever ridden!

I've had a long time off riding over the summer, weirdly, due to work, other holidays, doing up my house, and family events but the Forest of Dean is calling...

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