Durris Wood Mountain Bike Trails

Durris Forest is one of two popular forests offering mountain biking (the other being Fetteresso Forest) accessible from the A957 Slug Road which joins Banchory and Stonehaven. In fact, the Slug Road separates Fetteresso from Durris.

Currently on offer is an 9 mile cycle trail round the 3 peaks of Cairn-mon-earn, Strathgyle and Mundernal with an optional spur to the top of Cairn-mon-earn. There is also a complex network of other forest roads and off-road MTB trails that provide some fine mountain biking for all tastes. In total there is over 40km of trails from easy forest roads to black graded technical tracks.
The ancient drovers route of Elsick Mounth passes through the forest.

Gravitate North East (formerly known as NETCO - North East Trail Centre Organisation) have an ambitious and achievable plan to turn Durris Forest into a world class mountain biking trail centre. Work is ongoing, with loads of positive steps forward achieved so far. Find out more about Gravitate North East's plans for an adventure destination for mountain biking in north east Scotland.

The Durris Forest is a chiefly coniferous forest made of the Durris Forest itself and several smaller outlying woods. The forest is co-managed by Friends of Durris Forests, and Forestry Commission Scotland.

Durris MTB Trails Descriptions

The small car park sign posted from the Slug Road is a good start point for most of the Durris trails. On offer are 17 forest road trails, 2 easy trails, 6 intermediate, 6 difficult and 4 severe trails giving 45km plus of fun.

Durris Circular Trail

This is way marked with white circles. The route uses forest road, and has some steep sections at the start, although the second part of the route has more gentle gradients. There are great views to the north near the end of the route, and recent felling and thining has opened out views within the forest. The forest route finishes at the Inchloan car park leaving about a mile to be completed on a quiet stretch of tarmac.

Cairn-mon-earn Spur

The yellow way marked Cairn Spur leads off the circular route after about a mile. This is a real lung opener despite the spur being only a mile in length. The summit, at 378 metres high offers superb panoramic views. It is worth getting off the bike for a few minutes to explore the Bronze Age burial cairn which now shares the summit with a few radio masts.