Scotland’s mountain bike trail centres: a 5-day motorhome route

Scotland has some of the best mountain biking in Britain, and the easiest way to ride more than one of its mountain bike trail centres in a single trip is from a motorhome. Bikes on the rack at the back, kit in the garage, fresh trails out the door in the morning, weather followed across the country rather than endured in one spot. This is a five-day, four-night loop from the Atlas Motorhomes depot in Glasgow that takes in the Tweed Valley (Glentress and Innerleithen) and Comrie Croft, with the option to extend north into the Highlands if you have the time. It's a route for confident intermediate riders and above. The blue and green trails at Glentress and Comrie give beginners proper riding too; if you're chasing the red and black at Innerleithen, you'll know who you are.

What to hire, and how the bike rack works

Every Atlas motorhome takes the same rear-mounted bike rack, carrying up to four bikes with lockable frame holders. You pick the motorhome that suits the people (sleeping layout, length, transmission); the rack itself is the same kit on any of them. Add it to your booking from the optional extras list, or later from the booking dashboard up to a few days before collection. It's a flat per-hire fee, not per night and not per bike, and Atlas fits it at the depot before you arrive and removes it on return. No DIY, no roof bars, no improvising in a car park. Atlas doesn't run bike hire: you bring your own bikes. If you don't have them, local hire shops near most Scottish trail centres rent by the day and many deliver to campsites: Alpine Bikes in Innerleithen covers the Tweed Valley, and Bothy Bikes in Aviemore covers the Cairngorms and Laggan. The motorhome-plus-rack setup lets you pick a hire shop close to where you actually want to ride.

Day 1: Glasgow depot to the Tweed Valley

About 1 hour 45 minutes' drive. Out of Glasgow on the M8 to Edinburgh, then south on the A703 / A701 through the hills south of Edinburgh to Peebles. After the depot handover, this is a steady run on motorway and A-road; the last half-hour through the hills sets the tone for the rest of the trip. Peebles is the natural place to overnight for the Tweed Valley. It's small, walkable, well-stocked with cafés and bike shops if you've forgotten a tube or a chain link. Glentress Forest sits two miles east of the town along the A72, with its main visitor centre at the Peel car park (postcode EH45 8NB). The visitor centre has a café, bike wash, and trail-condition boards that Forestry and Land Scotland updates regularly. If you arrive in time, the green and blue routes at Glentress make a good shake-out ride to test the bikes after the drive. Save the red and the black for the morning. Park-ups: Crossburn Caravan Park (Peebles), Drummohr Holiday Park (east of Edinburgh).

Day 2: A full day at Glentress

No driving. Glentress holds more than 40 miles of dedicated trail across green, blue, red and black grades, all radiating out from the same car park. It is the trail centre that proves the trail-centre concept: trails that flow, climbs that don't punish you, descents that reward bike handling rather than pure courage. The blue is the right warm-up, fast and forgiving, and gives you the lay of the forest. The red is the day's main course. Around eleven miles, four to six hours including coffee breaks, climbs that earn the descents and descents that earn the climbs. The black is for riders who already know what a black-grade trail asks of them: rock features, mandatory drops, committed lines you'll want to walk first. The visitor centre café at Peel handles lunch; there's also a skills area for any session that didn't land the way you wanted. Park-up: stay at Crossburn another night, or move down the valley to one of the smaller sites if you fancy a change of view.

Day 3: Innerleithen, then north to Comrie

Six miles south-east of Peebles on the A72, Innerleithen is the Tweed Valley's serious downhill and enduro centre. The trails here are graded red and black for a reason. If you've ridden Glentress comfortably on the red but never thought of yourself as a downhiller, the Innerleithen red cross-country is the right next step. If you came specifically for the downhill, you already have a plan. Morning at Innerleithen, then point the motorhome north. The drive to Comrie Croft is about two and a half hours via the A72, the A701, and then the M9 and A85: Peebles to Edinburgh's bypass, north over the Forth, then west into Perthshire. By the time you turn off the A85, the road has narrowed and the trees have changed. Comrie Croft sits a few miles east of Comrie village on the A85; arrive in the late afternoon, settle in, and put a few easy laps in on the skills park if your legs have anything left. Park-up: Comrie Croft itself has motorhome pitches; book ahead, especially in summer.

Day 4: Comrie Croft

No driving. Comrie Croft is the route's contrast day. After two trail centres built and managed by Forestry and Land Scotland, Comrie is an independent, family-run natural trail centre with over twenty kilometres of trails threaded through a working farm. Blue, red and black grades, all rideable year-round (the soil drains well; mud is rarely the limiting factor), and a skills park that rewards an hour of focused work. The on-site café at the Croft does decent food, and there are showers if your park-up runs without facilities. It is the kind of place where you talk to the staff about the trails and they actually know what you mean. Park-up: stay at Comrie Croft another night.

Day 5: Comrie back to the Glasgow depot

About 1 hour 30 minutes' drive. A85 west to Lochearnhead, then south on the A84 through Callander and onto the M9 / M80 back to Glasgow. If you've got hours to spare before the depot drop-off, the road from Lochearnhead down past Loch Lubnaig is one of the better short drives in central Scotland; stop at the Falls of Dochart in Killin for a leg-stretch. Return the motorhome at the depot, calf muscles complaining for the next three days.

Want more? Extending the route

Two natural ways to stretch this into a longer trip. South: Galloway and the 7stanes. Add two days at the start by going west out of Glasgow rather than east. Kirroughtree (near Newton Stewart) is one of the best red-graded trails in the south of Scotland; Mabie, Dalbeattie and Ae are within an hour's drive of each other. Lots of granite, coastal views, and quieter than the Tweed Valley. North: Laggan Wolftrax and the Highlands. Add two days at the end. Laggan Wolftrax is about two hours north of Comrie via the A9, with over twenty miles of technical trail through Laggan Forest on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park, known for its rock slabs and committed black-grade descents. Beyond Laggan, Nevis Range / Witch's Trails at Fort William has gondola-served descents off Aonach Mòr, and Highland Wildcat at Golspie has the longest singletrack descent in the UK at seven kilometres top to bottom.

When should I do this trip?

April to October is the obvious window. Tweed Valley trails ride best after a settled dry spell; a wet week leaves them slow and slippery. Comrie Croft drains well and stays rideable year-round. The shoulder seasons (April / May and September / October) often give you the cleanest trails, the smallest crowds, and the best riding light.

Ready to plan it?

Pick your dates, pick the motorhome, add the bike rack from the extras list, and you're set. The depot handles fitting and removal; you handle the trails.

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