On April 4, 2018
By Rebecca Field
Review: Mountain biking centre – Laggan Wolftrax
As with all forestry commission mountain biking centre, you may need to be careful with your timing. If there is logging taking place, some of the trails may be out of bounds. Also, if you visit out of season (i.e. during the winter – as I did) the café may not be open. However, not to worry. There is a café close by at Laggan Pottery which comes very highly recommended.
Riding on a red trail at Laggan Wolftrax
Mountain biking centre: Trails:
When I visited there was logging taking place so the green and orange trails were out of bounds. Unfortunately this means that this instantly made the centre unfriendly to family biking as only red and black trails were accessible.
The climb up to the red trails requires some fitness, out of season as there is no uplift available then. There used to be uplift available but there’s no mention of it on their website now so you’d need to check with them directly if it is available.
Trailmap:
Find the trail map here
Facilities
- Cafe
- Toilets
- Showers
There is no bike hire available on site any more. A new bike hire shop is due to open in Laggan soon.
If you are staying at Fraoch Lodge, and you are wanting to hire bikes, you can’t go wrong with the hire bikes at Ride Cairngorms in Boat of Garten. The bikes Nash has available for hire are suitable for all the trails at Laggan, though you may want to bring your own bike is you are keen on riding black runs. Few if any of the bike shops in the area offer full-sus bike hire due to the cost of maintaining &/or replacing the bikes.
Family friendly or not?
At the time I visited, the mountain biking centre at Laggan was not as friendly as we would have hoped. They have discontinued the uplift for the red runs and at that point both the cafe and the easier green/orange runs we closed. If the lower tracks are open, there would at least be some trails for the younger kids to ride, but they are quite short. It wouldn’t give a huge amount for the kids to do and in the summer you’d need to be on the lookout for midges. Glenlivet mountain biking centre was much more child friendly when we went there.
Events
Watch out for events taking place at Laggan as the centre may not be open to the general public while the event is on or alternatively you may want to take part in the event. Don’t forget it’s not far to Fort William from Laggan and you can ride on the World Cup Downhill course there. The World cup in Fort William usually takes place in June.
Laggan hosts the following events:
- Scottish Enduro Series – April
- Wolfpax mini downhill – May
- Open Day – May
Full details here
How to find Laggan Wolftrax mountain biking centre
Distance from Fraoch Lodge: 31 miles (44 minutes driving time)
From Fraoch Lodge, turn left out of the drive and head out of Boat of Garten to the A95.
Follow the A95 towards Aviemore but turn right on to the A9 heading south.
Continue on the A9 until the turn off for Kingussie.
Turn right and go through Kingussie and into Newtonmore.
Drive through Newtonmore until you see Newtonmore hostel on the right. Turn right here onto the A86.
Follow the A86 past Ardverikie castle and along Loch Laggan until you see signs for Laggan Wolftrax on your left.
