A Sterling Experience

Discover Stirling’s surrounding playground with a fun ride round Cambusbarron and the North Third

- Alex Corlett

ARE there any trails better than local trails? These are the paths we ride more often than any other – after work or when time’s tight at the weekend. And where there are riders, there will be local trails.

Every Scottish city has its spots – some jealously guarded secrets, others common knowledge. Glasgow has Mugdock, Perth has Kinnoull and Deuchny, and Stirling has Cambusbarron and the North Third. Actually, Stirling does very well for itself – it also has Dumyat and the Mine Woods to the north, but today I’m heading to the west.

Despite its long-standing reputation as a hotspot for Central Belt riders, I’d never actually been before, but I was keen to fill in the blank on the map. I was riding solo this weekend, but in all honesty I was OK with that. I didn’t completely know where I was going, I wasn’t sure what to expect and this kind of exploring frustrates a lot of my riding buddies.

Driving in to a car park busy with bikers, and I could tell there must be a lot going on in these woods before I’d even pulled on the handbrake. Folk were pulling everything from downhill bikes to sprightly cross-country bikes off their cars and out of vans.