The Ginger One has finally got his finger out from where he normally keeps it (shudder) and organised his long-awaited Scotland trip. A few months later than promised, in the False Spring of February 2019, an overexcited quartet was crossing the border, to the land of Irn Bru and those ever so tasty breakfast haggis slices. The village with the shortest name in Great Britain today's destination, Ae, or more specifically, it's forest and the next day was to be Dalbeattie; we rolled into Ae car park as the temperature was heading past the mid-teens centigrade. Disappointingly the cafe was closed but less disappointingly the car park ticket machine was out of service, so we were three quid up straight away. I shan’t bother describing the routes because we only did the standard red routes (with black excursions) and let’s be honest trail centres tend to blur into one anyway. Both days were superb, for Ae, the standout section has to be the orange graded Omega Man, downhill finishing section and for Dalbeattie, The Slab for those with big cajones and the wee (fluent at the lingo now) play area near the end.
The weather was better than the many summer days, we had beer, pies and a night out in Dumfries and two excellent rides with (mainly failed) attempts at stuff way out of the league of gentlemen on the verge of middle-age. A Monday night out in Dumfries, in February, you are guaranteed not to be jostled in the pubs, if it wasn’t for Wetherspoons quiz night we would have thought we were breaking a curfew or something.
Day One Ae Forest 25th February 2019 route
Day Two Dalbeattie 26th February route.
Video click here
Lots of photos below.
Ae Forest
Dalbeattie
You must try The Lodge at Carfraemill near Lauder, great food and beer, we always stop here on our frequent journeys back from Aberdeen.
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