What Do We Think of the Scotland C2C?

About Guided Trips?... we were hesitant about doing a guided trip since we had previously always done our own  trips independently. However on this trip we were invited so it was a choice on our part to join our friends and it was our first mountain bike tour as all of our previous tour had been on road with touring bikes. What did we think?? Hands down the group decided that a guided tour was awesome!
   




       

About Trailbrakes as a Company?..The short version, we loved them. We have to admit that we are tough judges, the majority of us having been professional guides ourselves in one form or another so we know the pros and cons and would like to think that we are fair..  so here's a bit of a breakdown.

       










Let's start with reservations. We had actually booked with another company almost a year in advance, which was Scotland Mountain Biking.(www.scotlandmountainbiking.com). I don't recommend them. Why?  We made our reservations, paid our deposit and the only contact we received was a Paypal notice and then a sentence that seemed to be auto generated stating that they were changing their website. (Their website was pretty flash) Mind you we weren't the group organizer who did receive a thank you more details to follow email. We gave it some latitude as it was October and we were booking for August but we thought we should have a bit more personal contact.

     However 7 months later there had been no effort on their part to contact us and we began contacting them. To make a long story short.. no emails or contact on their part and finally a late (for us) cancellation by them of our trip. We had to contact them to request our deposit back as they had not addressed it in their cancellation notice. To be fair, when we did ask for our deposit it was immediately returned and we had been told that their guide had had an accident that prevented the running of the trip. However we felt that overall there were way too many holes in their performance, their problems started way before the early June issue with their guide.  In searching for another company we found that they had also canceled multiple other trips, even more last minute than us.

   



     On the other hand.. with Trailbrakes (www.trailbrakes.co.uk) our emails were immediately returned and included detailed answers to our questions. We had an excellent back and forth discussion regarding details of our trip even though it was late in reserving. They contacted every person on the trip not just the group leader. We were accommodated in all of our needs including but not limited to bicycle hire for one of our group, personal food requests including gluten free and vegetarian and multiple pick up points and end trip drop offs including Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Peebles. It was tailored to us.
     

     The Route...There are multiple routes in multiple areas of Scotland for the C2C. We chose Isle of Skye to Stonehaven. We recommend that you take a look at a map of Scotland when booking a trip as many companys do a shorter version. Trailbrakes has several versions depending on your desires. It IS coast to coast and while the majority of it is off road it is not entirely singletrack and there are parts on jeep track, two track, gravel and paved. It also includes in all it's glory mud, muck, bogs, bugs, sheep poop, hills,climbing, rain, creek crossings, bike hiking and lots of riding.

     

     Guided Trip versus Self-Guided....Having a guide allowed us to do nothing but ride, no route finding. Yes you can do a self-guide but we really enjoyed the services that our guide provided, knowing just where the creeks are to be crossed, always getting the single track option, add ons of more riding for those who wanted it and shortening sections for others. There was a definate magic of doing absolutely nothing but riding while all was taken care of for you.

    


     Services... We can't say enough about this part. You get to choose with Trailbrakes your level of services which is not the case with the other companies that we looked at. we chose a combination of hostel and B&B. We can't say enough good things about James, the driver and services manager, who provided most of the non-riding related services. Every night our baggage was in our rooms. Our personal food items in the fridge. If we needed something while we were out riding it was picked up for us. Postcards mailed each day, beer (yes that was important for our trip!) cold in the fridge. Drive to you to the shop for personal items, direct you to the pub that had free internet.. Didn't feel like riding?? He'd show you around. Super funny, a great guy. We loudly sing his praises.

     

     Our Guide..Pete is a guide's guide. With all of our personal guiding experience we were going to be hard to please but Pete hit all the marks. An strong, skilled rider and extremely knowledgeable in all the different variations of routes, each day was smoothly put together and directed by him. An excellent conversationalist, you felt like you were riding with your long time friend and not just a guide. He made sure the stronger riders were challenged and the less experienced riders were coached and encouraged, attaining levels of riding they had not thought possible. He had a patient way of moving riders along without seeming pushy when we were demonstrating our lack of readiness skills. Always smiling, always organized, Pete could be seen at night while we were relaxing wiping down forks, adjusting someone's bike.

Last but not least.. the Midges.. those famous, small, little no see-um bugs that we had heard so much about..were actually a rarity. Did we see them? Yes. Were they an issue? No.  

     Finally overall experience... of the Scotland Coast to Coast and Trailbrakes..a beautiful country of welcoming, friendly people, warm and inviting hostels, B&Bs and pubs with great food and excellent ales. Ancient history all over the landscape, a plethora of types of terrain to ride, incredible scenery, an amazing trip with a 5 star company that we can only highly recommend. We would do it again in a heartbeat.  www.trailbrakes.co.uk