Kirroughtree Forest is located near

Newton Stewart Newton Stewart ( Gd: ''Baile Ùr nan Stiùbhartach'') is a former burgh town in the historical county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. The town is on the River Cree with most of the town to the west of the river, and ...

in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and overlooks the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

. It is managed by

Forestry and Land Scotland Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) ( gd, Coilltearachd agus Fearann Alba) is responsible for managing and promoting Scotland's national forest estate: land, predominantly covered in forest, owned by the Scottish Government on behalf of the nation. ...

and is part of the

Galloway Forest Park Galloway Forest Park is a forest park operated by Forestry and Land Scotland, principally covering woodland in Dumfries and Galloway. It is claimed to be the largest forest in the UK. The park was granted Dark Sky Park status ("Galloway Forest ...

. It has been developed as a centre for mountain biking trails. Palnure Burn is a small river which runs through the forest and on into the

River Cree The River Cree is a river in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland which runs through Newton Stewart and into the Solway Firth. It forms part of the boundary between the counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. The tributaries of the Cree are ...

. The forest is home to red squirrels, red deer and ospreys.

Tourism

Kirroughtree attracts about 78,000 visitors a year.

Mountain biking

Kirroughtree is a mountain biking centre, which is one of 7 venues of the 7Stanes project throughout the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway. 7stanes was started by the

Forestry Commission The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of both public and private forestry in England. The Forestry Commission was previously also respon ...

in 2001. Chris Ross of the Forestry Commission led the design and construction of the Kirroughtree trails.

Glentrool Glentrool is a collection of mountain biking routes through the heart of Galloway in southwest Scotland. The mountain bike routes are part of the 7Stanes project by Forestry and Land Scotland throughout the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Gal ...

is another 7 stanes site within Galloway Forest Park, an officially designated

Dark Sky Park A dark-sky preserve (DSP) is an area, usually surrounding a park or observatory, that restricts artificial light pollution. The purpose of the dark-sky movement is generally to promote astronomy. However, astronomy is certainly not the only obje ...

area.

The Gem Stane at Kirroughtree - geograph

Known as the 7stanes because each venue features a 'stane' ( Scots for stone), created by artist Gordon Young. The 'Gem Stane' at Kirroughtree is a 1.75 ton stone sculpture made from Scottish pink quartz. Kirroughtree's trails are known as the 7stanes' hidden gem, and the forest is close to the

Creetown Creetown (, sometimes ) is a small seaside town in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in Galloway in the Dumfries and Galloway council area in south-west Scotland. Its population is about 750 people. It is situated near the head of Wigtown Bay, ...

Gem Rock Museum. Kirroughtree was winner of ''MBR Trail of the Year'' in 2010. A new trail centre with restaurant and bike shop/hire was opened in 2014. Kirroughtree has several cross-country XC trails (graded for varying levels of experience) and a skills area for practising mountain biking techniques: * Bargary Wood: green (easy), 3.8 miles (6.0 km), 10% singletrack * Larg Hill: blue (moderate), 6.3 miles (10.0 km), 50% singletrack, with Doon Hill extension: 2.5 miles (4.0 km), 10% singletrack * The Twister: red (difficult), 10.6 miles (17.0 km), 85% singletrack * Black Craigs (an extension to The Twister loop): black (severe/expert), 8.7 miles (14.0 km), 75% singletrack. The highlight is the unique 'McMoab' granite outcrop, with its huge slabs and ridges linked by boulder causeways. McMoab is named after the world famous mountain biking area at Moab, Utah in USA. The gruelling climb of 'Heartbreak Hill' leads on to several downhill sections including the challenging 'Hissing Sid'. McMoab at Kirroughtree MTB Trail June 2007

McMoab at Kirroughtree MTB Trail June 2007

Long distance cycle route

National Cycle Route 7 Route For mapping purposes, the route is split at Glasgow into Lochs and Glens (south) and (north) Sunderland to Carlisle This route follows the Sea to Sea (C2C) cycle route for much of its length before the C2C departs to Whitehaven and N ...

(running 200 miles from Glasgow to Carlisle via Dumfries and Glen Trool) winds through the Forest Park.

Fishing

There are several locations for fishing in the Forest Park (mostly for brown trout and

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

), at Loch Braden, Loch Dee, Black Loch, Spectacle Loch and Garwachie.

References

{{reflist

External links

7Stanes
Forests and woodlands of Scotland Mountain biking venues in the United Kingdom Tourist attractions in Dumfries and Galloway Cycleways in Scotland