Binary Trail System - Kyle of Sutherland Trails (Balblair’s Black and Carbisdale’s Red)

Balblair’s blue and black trails start with a fireroad climb leading out of an unassuming carpark on the right of the road heading out of the small village of Bonar Bridge in Scotland.  Both the blue and the longer black share a first climb, first descent and final descent.  Completing all of the black options will net you about 11.5km of total trail, plenty of which is singletrack. 

The first descent, called "Woopy Doo”, is a wide dirt trail through the woods, raised to help drainage but a bit tame for experienced mountain bikers.

The blue branches left here and right provides more fire road and the first of some excellent views for riders following the black. Although there are a couple of fireroad climbs, only the first feels like it should be replaced by singletrack.  The others provide a nice breather between technical sections!  You have to earn your descent somehow though and overall it’s hard to complain about the layout of the trails here when you consider what comes next.

So much surprisingly flowy rock

It’s not too far until you’re back into singletrack that quickly goes from a typical gravelly/dirt path surface to one that takes you over large natural rocky sections that have been incorporated into the trail. The trail features loads of rocky sections and provides a really enjoyable and involving riding challenge. The rocks feature small steps to climb and sections which slope upwards, downwards and provide all kinds of off camber trail to test your balance on.  I was glad I was riding a full sus bike on the rocky black sections but a hardtail would have completely fine if I was only riding the blue.

Before and after passing by a large communications tower, there are long sections of north shore style elevated wooden runs to help make the most of the rocky ground.  A great example of the right way to do wooden trails right; a flat flowing surface, grippy sandpaper-like covering, well secured at either ends to rocky ground, no drops to upslopes. Balblair’s north shore could be livened up by some drops or more corners on the wood, but to be honest it provides a welcome contrast to the technical rockyness elsewhere on the trail. 

Perfectly built boardwalk leading to more of the hard stuff

There was a black loop at the top which was closed for maintenance when I rode past. Out of interest I still checked it out and it looked to be one of the most technical pieces of trail I have ever seen. Bring some trials skills would be my only recommendation! Luckily, this is easily skipped as it is an offshoot of the main trail which re-joins at the exact same spot where it leaves.

At what felt like the furthest point from the car park, the backside downhill is a lot of fun, featuring tight but flowing corners and a good natural trail surface as it re-enters the woods. The trail was looking pretty overgrown in this part, which was odd considering that this was only the start of the summer. Perhaps the trails are so far out of the way that they do not get used much at all? I saw no other riders while I was there. After taking in some scenic fireroad and singletrack climbing the final couple of downhill sections were a bit less technical, with the finale taking place after re-joining the blue trail. These bits were overgrown too and I had to duck down as far as I could go to avoid getting slapped in the face by branches quite a few times!

Towards the end the trail appears to provide a shortcut which avoids the majority of the first fire road climb if you’re going for another lap. The trail is a nice length and it’s probably worth doing twice if you’re not going anywhere else that day.  As it was, I headed off to the other Kyle of Sutherland Trail centre: Carbisdale.

Carbisdale starts out of the car park for the impressive Carbisdale Castle youth centre which was closed for redevelopment while I was there. The trail features a blue loop of about 3km and a red extension which takes the total length to 4.5km.

The blue / red starts out of the car park with a short off road climb, followed by a road climb, followed by an off road double track climb.  There are some nice views from the top here.

Fast and smooth on the red

Next up is a shared descent which seems suitable for the blue grading but features a couple of larger rocks you can launch off if you know what you’re looking for. The red splits off soon enough and climbs further into the woods.

There is a pretty fun descent through the woods on singletrack covered with pine needles and leaf litter before the trails merge again for the final descent that has a red option featuring a couple of large boulders which provide an easy taste of what you might encounter on the Balblair black . Before you know it you’re back at the car park.

View down the glen before the final downhill blast

Short, but a good blast as a second ride in a day or for introducing someone to mountain biking; as the loop is short you could do the blue, then head back up to tackle the red sections to build up a newer rider’s confidence.

I heard that you could ride between the Balblair and Carbisdale trail heads and, while I agree you could, I would strongly suggest getting in the car and driving between them as the ride between centres is probably twice as long as the ride you will get at Carbisdale.

The Kyle of Sutherland provides two solid trails to ride in a half day and their relatively short length means you can easily do a couple of laps if you wanted to spend longer in the area. I would suggest that if you are in the area and are comfortable on black runs your top priority should be to ride the Highland Wildcat Trails at Golspie first, then if you have another day, or a lot of energy(!), hit up the Balblar and Carbisdale trails later on. 

Reap what you sow – Golspie’s Highland Wildcat Trails

The Highland Wildcat Trails at Golspie is the UK’s most northerly trail centre, it boasts the UK’s longest singletrack climb and the longest singletrack descent.  They are a pretty long drive for most UK mountain bikers but those who do make the effort to ride them will be rewarded with well thought out, well maintained and fairly quiet trails.  Their remoteness probably means they are likely to stay in good condition longer than somewhere more easily accessible and while I was at Golspie there was barely a braking bump to be seen anywhere.

Going all the way up there!

In a traditional style, the trail gets all of the uphill out of the way right at the start as you ascend to very near the summit and a huge statue of a Duke of Sutherland before the second half starts, nearly all of which is downhill.  The centre includes blue and red loops that start from different car parks as well as a black graded loop that acts as an extension to the red route.  The black itself features a further optional (but recommended) extension which is also graded black. 

Rising above the coast

This is certainly a lot of climbing, but it goes by much quicker than you expect as the trail has been built to maintain your interest; before I knew it I was high above the coastal town of Golspie, climbing into the low clouds, having made only one wrong turn at the end of “Cairn Climb”.

Where the first black-graded section leaves the treeline there is a shortcut called “Treeline” which allows you to skip the more exposed parts of the trail. If the weather is good enough for you to continue without the shortcut the next section is “Lactic Ladder”.  If you guessed from that name that this might be a killer climb, you’re dead right.  The rocky trail climbs steeply via a series of switchbacks.  For me, the low cloud hid the best of the views across the valley and down to the sea. The section provides a real technical challenge but ultimately feels fair; if you can’t ride it all (and I would be incredibly impressed if you can clean it on a first attempt!) then it feels like it must be your skills or set up, and not the design of the trail that is to blame.  This sharply contrasts with some other UK trails that I’ve ridden where the black sections are not as well designed and feel simply unfair – the balance of risk and effort versus fun and satisfaction feels off.  Golspie gets it very right.

While the black extension “The Laing Way Round” is a fairly long double track climb around the back of the hill, it is unequivocally worth it IF you have the skills to ride the black descent.  Aside from this double track ALL of the rest of the trail is single track, with only one very short section of fire road on the climb – even I can’t complain about that!

Slight break in the clouds at the start of the downhill half

The quality of the downhill parts is evident immediately.  Starting with the view from a hilltop shelter looking down through the first few bends of “Mon-U-Mental” it’s clear you are in for a treat.  The trail is fun to ride, well-built and drains well.  I’m not much of a wet weather rider but I was riding it in the pouring rain and can safely say it was one of the best trails I’ve ridden.

Enjoying it despite being soaked through

Being one of the longest purpose-built singletrack downhills in the country, the descent is very meaty; stopping to take some pics and also to let my arms recover I enjoyed about half an hour of downhill.  This is an amazing payoff for the earlier climb!  If you can stop yourself from being distracted by the great views (the sun had managed to break through by now) “VTOL” features some large jumps and well thought out rocky corners.  This is pretty challenging stuff but it’s all rideable if you’re feeling confident.

VTOL snaking down the hill

Re-entering the treeline on “Running the Gauntlet” was the first time that the wet weather really made the trail slippy and a bit too sketchy for my liking.  The mist flowing through the old forest made for a great atmosphere though. 

Running the gauntlet

The downhill continues on the red graded “Valhalla” and “Lawsons Run”.  These are not as tech as the black, as you might expect by the grading, but are incredibly fun and feature smaller jumps and drops off large rock slabs with the added bonus that you can let loose a little bit more due to the lower technicality and being nearer the car park.

As you exit the woods, the trail suddenly transitions into a fairly long string of north shore obstacles, about 1 – 2 feet in height.  These looked well made but being soaked to the skin by this point I wasn’t keen on sessioning them this time around!

A final blast down a well-reinforced rocky section leads you back to the starting point of the trail with a great sense of accomplishment and the feeling that you really should try to squeeze in one more lap, after all, when will you be in the area again?