Richard Hamilton takes the interesting route down Caddon Bank

The Tweed Valley Forest Park is probably best known for the Innerleithen DH courses, but the freshly-opened Traquair XC Trail is set to change that. The 12 mile trail is part of the Europe-funded 7stanes project being run by Forestry Commission Scotland in the Borders. The idea is to boost tourism in the area, and it seems to be working – recent figures show that visitor numbers to Glentress are running at over a quarter of a million a year.

The new trail climbs from the forest floor up to Minch Moor at 570m. There’s a load of forest singletrack up high, and then the huge Caddon Bank descent. The Scots builders have something of a reputation for putting big stuff in their XC trails, and Traquair has sizable rock drops, bermed corners and all the rest of it. The drops are all easily avoidable if you want to save them for another day, though.

Traquair is adjacent to the Red Bull DH trails at Innerleithen and five minutes from Glentress. Find out more at www.7stanes.gov.uk.