How to get to the Carron Valley Mountain Bike Trails

 

The Carron Valley Mountain Bike Trails are in the Carron Valley Forest, lying at the eastern edge of the Campsie Fells, to the south west of Stirling.  Access is from the Carron Valley car park, just off the B818 Denny - Fintry road.

Map showing location of the Carron Valley in Scotland (link to an external site).

By Car

Please note: these are suggested directions to the Carron Valley using main roads and are not the only routes available.

From Glasgow: follow the M80 / A80 out of the city to junction 4, signposted Kilsyth.  Leave the A80 at junction 4 and join the A803.  Follow this to the junction with the A872, signposted Denny.  Follow the A872 into Denny.  Look on the left for the junction with the B818, signposted Fintry.  Follow the B818 for about 8km.  The Carron Valley Car Park is on the left, about 2km past Carron Bridge.

From Edinburgh: head west out of the city on the A8 to the Newbridge roundabout.  Join the M9 and follow it to junction 8.  Leave at junction 8 and join the M876, signposted Glasgow.  Leave the M876 at junction 1 and join the A883.  Follow the A883 through Denny and at the junction with the A872, bear left.  Follow the A872 for about half a kilometre and look for the junction with the B818 on the right, signposted Fintry. Follow the B818 for about 8km.  The Carron Valley Car Park is on the left, about 2km past Carron Bridge.

From Stirling:  join the A872 at junction 9 of the M80 (Stirling Services roundabout).  Follow the A872 south to Denny.  At the junction with the A883 in Denny, bear right, staying on the A872.  Follow the road for another half kilometre and look for the junction with the B818 on the right, signposted Fintry. Follow the B818 for about 8km.  The Carron Valley Car Park is on the left, about 2km past Carron Bridge.

By public transport

By bus

There are no bus services that stop at the Carron Valley forest.  

Scottish Citylink runs services to Stirling from Edinburgh and Glasgow.  Service 909 runs daily from Edinburgh and service M8 runs daily from Glasgow.  Journey time to Stirling from Glasgow is 45 minutes and from Edinburgh, one hour.  Stirling is roughly 13km from the trailhead.

Bikes are carried on Scottish Citylink services free of charge provided they are in an approved box or bag and that there is sufficient space in the luggage hold.  See the Scottish Citylink website for further details.

By train

The nearest stations are at Croy and Stirling.  Croy is approximately 11km from Carron Valley by road and Stirling is approximately 13km by road.

You might need to book in advance to take your bike on the train.  See First Scotrail's information for cyclists.  

Journey times to Croy take between 11 and 18 minutes from Glasgow and around 35 minutes from Edinburgh.  Trains to Stirling from Glasgow take between 25 and 40 minutes, and around 50 minutes from Edinburgh. 

More details are available on the First Scotrail website. 

By air

The nearest major airports are in Glasgow and Edinburgh.  See the Glasgow airport website or Edinburgh airport website for more details.