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Discover the wild heart of Galloway with a wide range of riding experiences, all of which start and finish at Glentrool visitor centre.

The trails

Big country route

Unlike the other 7stanes trails, the whole of the Big Country route is on minor public and forest roads, without any singletrack.  With magnificent views of lochs and hills contrasting with sheltered woodlands, and some testing climbs and big descents in the course of its 58km, it’s a challenging but rewarding day out.

Green and blue routes

In contrast to the big country circuit, Glentrool has two green-graded routes  The Glen and the Palgowan, as well as the blue-graded Green Torr route.

The Glen is a short (6km) trail which shares the easy singletrack of the first half of the blue route, takes you around the Palnagashel Glen and descends on forest roads back to the visitor centre.

The Palgowan is longer.  Starting on the same singletrack as The Glen route, it takes you north on forest roads and a farm track to Palgowan before returning via a climb and long descent around Glencaird Hill.  A short cut along the minor public road back to Glentrool Village is available if you want to miss out the climb. 

The Green Torr blue-graded route is nearly all on purpose-built singletrack.  The first section climbs gradually up through the forest to a ridge overlooking Loch Trool, before a fun-filled 2.5km section plunges you back down to the visitor centre.

Trail profiles

The Glentrool trail profiles (PDF 346k) show where climbs and descents occur on the green and blue routes.

Facilities 

Parking
Car parking is available at Glentrool visitor centre.  See details of how to get to Glentrool by car.

Toilets
Please note the toilets are closed for the winter and re-open in March when the visitor centre re-opens.

Cafe / food and drink
Glentrool visitor centre is now closed for the winter and will re-open on 11th March 2010.  Newton Stewart has a good selection of places to eat and drink.

Bike hire
The nearest available bike hire is in Newton Stewart.  There's also a seasonal hire service available from thebreakpad.  Contact www.thebreakpad.com for more details.

The Glentrool Stane

See what are the 7stanes? for details of the Glentrool sculpted stane.