Hi,
We were in Scotland and had planned to ride at Newcastleton, but they actually had a race on, so the trails were shut...
Mathew tried to get me to just take part in the race (by telling me they would be measuring trail usage or some such nonsense 😂).
In the end, we just carried on down the road back over the border and went to Kielder Forest.
We'd never actually been there before either, so didn't know what to pick, really.
We chose the Deadwater Red trail, since many others were shut after storm damage, and by the distance since we did have to get home, too...
I actually quite liked it - the descents are quite nice and are not too technically challenging.
Be prepared for LOTS of climbing though! Lots and Lots of climbing 😭😭
If you do go and visit, I'd suggest pacing yourself, as the first real off-road climb to the top will take a fair bit of energy :)
Thankfully they also provided a little pick-nick table on the way, which we made use of 👍
I'd like to try some of the other MTB trails at Kielder some time, when I find the inclination to drive there.