Glentress Forest, located in the Scottish Borders, is an area of plantation forest and lies to the north of the River Tweed and 2 miles west of Peebles. Established by the Forestry Commission in the 1920s, it was one of the first State forests in Scotland and now has a series of word-class mountain-biking trails. It is one of 7 states mountain bike trails and the UCI MTB World Championships were held there in August 2023.
It was surprising how busy this area gets, especially at weekends when brave souls get on their very expensive looking mountain bikes, tackle the ‘Trails’ and get covered in mud, not something we really felt qualified to do. For us the area was also rich in walking paths, certainly something we were happy to explore.
The camp site we stayed on was a mecca for for the mountain bike sport, situated right at the start of all these trails, Glentress Forest Lodges consists of timber framed pods available to rent on a per night basis, alongside hardstanding EHU pitches for motorhomes, caravans and tents, although we were the only ‘campers’ there, as the facilities are geared up for the trail blazers who, as i have already pointed out seem to finish covered in muck!
Situated on the A72 which is served by Border Bus X62, which runs from Edinburgh City Centre to Galashiels. The reason i mention this that you can go on various walks and use the bus to return if required as it will stop at the road end that leads to the camp site.
As the weather was not too bright we decided our first trip into the market town of Peebles would be by bus, giving us a reasonable time to explore the town and have a fish supper in the very highly recommended Fish Restaurant ‘Jim and Jacks’.
The town is a very thriving, and unlike other towns we visit is not run down. Places to see and visit including the Gothic styled Old Parish Church of Peebles. Standing majestically at the west end of the High Street and overlooking the Tweed Bridge. Built between 1885 and 1887 at a cost of £9500.
Another must see is the Peeblesshire War Memorial, said to be one of the finest memorials in Scotland, it stands forty feet high and is located within the quadrangle of the Chambers Institute. It commemorates those 541 men and women of Peeblesshire who fell in the 1914-18 war and the 110 who died in World War 2.
You can connect to the Tweed Valley Railway Path just across from the Glentress Forest road end. The tarmac path was officially opened in April 2013, it had taken ten years from concept to completion to complete. It replaces the old railway line to facilitate responsible access for all user groups - pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.
The walk to Innerleithen takes you via the village of Cardrona. It has been designed as a planned development from the late 1990s and consists of new executive homes, a luxury 159 bed hotel bordering the golf course and a country club.
Once you reach the main track the path runs from Peebles to Innerleithen but we decided to do it in two segments, the first to visit the village of Innerleithen which unlike Peebles does seem little run down. Originally a centre for woollen, spinning and knitwear centre.
Robert Smalls Printing Works located in the High Street was founded in 1837and was acquired bye National Trust for Scotland in 1986.
Opened in 1881 as a monument to Charles, 7th Earl of Traquair and his sister Lady Louisa Stuart. Designed by John Biggar in English Decorated style. A substantial church in dark stone with cream margins and buttresses. Tall tower and stone spire at the corner. The church ha a bench outside which we took advantage of. We returned by the X62.
The following day we joined the railway path again and walked into Peebles, including a wee diversion which took us along the River Tweed. Following lunch in Greggs we did some food shopping in Sainsbury’s which made a walk back impossible, thankfully the X62 came to our rescue.
Sorry to say it rained all the following day so unable to get out, but it gave us both a chance to catch up with our reading.
Scottish Borders Council produces a guide book to footpaths around the Peebles area. So if you do visit this area avoid Route 8 in the guide book. What we did not know was that a development of Forest Lodges for very rich folk were being built which unfortunately closed off a great deal of this walk. It did not stop us from attempting the 7 miles, which turned out to be nearer 9 miles, but it also turned out to be a much more challenging walk than we imagined, at times we were unable to stay on our feet!
The above walk should have taken us via the Buzzards Nest Car Park, so the following afternoon we attempted to get there from the other direction but found the route blocked again by contractors fencing. An easier walk which took us up via GoApe and two quite picturesque lakes and gave us the opportunity to enjoy the views.
This area of the Scottish Borders is a rather a lovely and a joy to visit.We enjoyed our stay at Glentress Forest Lodges and the young manager there, Blair Ritchie, made us very welcome. The campsite is in all honesty is geared up for mountain bikes but we enjoyed learning how popular this sport was. If you are an enthusiast of this sport this would be your ideal stopover.
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