Cycling and Mountain Biking in Galloway
Galloway is a fantastic place to cycle. Off road, through the trees and moors of the lower slopes of the Galloway Hills, or on the quiet roads of The Machars, the area south of Newton Stewart, you can wheel away to your heart's content.
mountain biking in the galloway hills
Glorious Galloway... mountain biking at Kirroughtree near Newton Stewart
Galloway boasts world-class mountain biking built around the 7Stanes network, which is a collection of specially designed trails that span southern Scotland.
The 7Stanes centre at Kirroughtree has an excellent cycle hire shop on site, called The Breakpad. The trails have been created to offer something for everyone from families and sedate riders (green, 6km), to challenging but safe (blue, 10km), challenging (red, 17km) and technically very demanding (black, 14km). The experts at The Breakpad can advise you. We absolutely love the mountain biking. (For reference, the blue route takes us about two hours with a 9 and 11-year-old). The trails twist and turn through pines, lochs and rough, open country on a mixture of gravel tracks and depending on the level you choose roads, rutted paths and even rocks. There is an excellent cafe and adventure playground at the end, too.
The 7Stanes mountain bike circuits at Glentrool promise a more remote experience. The trails include two green routes for families (6km and 14km), a blue route (9km) and a mammouth cross country route (58km) that travels deep into the Galloway Hills. There is no cycle hire on site, but there is a cafe.
Alternatively, plot your own adventure with OS maps. There are lots of roads, tracks and trails marked on the maps, which can knit together into a route of your own making.
cycling on the quiet lanes of GALLOWAY
Miles of open roads cycling in Galloway...
The quiet country roads of The Machars, roughly the promontory of land that juts into the Solway south of Newton Stewart, are perfect for cyclists. There is lots to explore from the fishing villages of Port William, the Isle of Whithorn and Garlieston; standing stones at Drumtroddan and Torhouse, near Wigtown; the history of the D-Day preparations at Garlieston, the arrival of Christianity at Whithorn, the tragedy of the Wigtown martyrs, beaches, coves and coastline and miles of open road through rolling hills and exposed moorland.
There really isn't that much on Galloway's roads
Dumfries and Galloway Council has identifed four cycle routes across The Machars. There are leaflets about these and other routes at Burnside Cottage. The green route (20 miles) takes in Port William, Mochrum and Monreith and goes past the cottage. The yellow route (25 miles) includes Bladnoch, Wigtown and the wild country out towards Kirkcowan. The red route (17 miles) includes Garlieston, Whithorn and the Isle of Whithorn, while the orange route takes in the eastern edge of The Machars, including Kirkinner and the old Baldoon airfield, where pilots were trained in WWII.
Kirkcowan Cycle Hire in Newton Stewart can supply bikes and may deliver, to Burnside Cottage subject to negotiation, or they hire out bike racks for the car. Their range includes electric bikes!