The UK’s leading national cycling charity has today launched its first entirely Scottish route.

Named Gallovidian Gravel,  the route traverses Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland, offering “a sense of adventure, history, heritage and nature”.

Working with adventure bikepackers and route designers Guy Kesteven and Kieran Foster, Cycling UK, which is best known for its long-distance bikepacking routes including King Alfred’s Way, the Rebellion Way and Traws Eryri, has added a new route to its network.

Beginning in Dumfries, the new circular multi-day route covers 330 kilometres of off-road riding in majestic and rugged landscapes, taking in dark sky forest tracks, winding coastal back lanes, wild mountains and hidden lochs.

While Gallovidian Gravel is ideal for competent cyclists, it’s been designed in the shape of three smaller, intersecting loops, to provide shorter ‘taster routes’ options instead for people of all experience levels.

Named Gallovidian Gravel, the route traverses Dumfries and Galloway in the south of Scotland (Image: Cycling UK)

At 331 kilometres long, the distance is the main challenge, but while it looks long and hilly – overall elevation of 4,002m – gradients are gentler to climb. It’s genuine gravel riding and best suited to gravel bikes or hybrid and tough-tyred touring bikes, with only a couple of optional kilometres where an MTB might make more sense.

Katie Hammond, Commercial Director at Cycling UK, said: “Cycling can be the best way to truly experience a place, because you’re travelling slowly enough to take everything in but fast enough to cover great distances. It’s always exciting to be able to unveil a new route, knowing that at the same time, it’ll boost the local businesses and communities, connecting more of our cities, towns and villages.

“Multi-day routes also offer a much greener and healthier way to travel. You get to see incredible places that are often inaccessible by car, and I’m so pleased to be revealing our first Scottish route. By joining Cycling UK, anyone can help support the creation of even more routes that make cycle adventures accessible to everyone. You’ll also be the first to know when we launch something new.”

Guy Kesteven, Ride Guide and Route Planner, said: “We’ve worked hard to create a moving story of an adventure that takes in traffic free paths and quiet back lanes, linking trail centres, craggy coasts, smugglers coves, seemingly endless forests and wild mountainscapes.

“Despite being the closest part of Scotland to England, the area remains largely overlooked and undiscovered. It’s somewhere you can experience the wild solitude of Scotland’s dark sky parks, whilst also taking in deep history, delightful towns, villages, remote farms and stunning scenery at every turn.

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“In short, it really has been the perfect biking area to build a route in. Similar to when we made Royal Chilterns Way, we’ve built in three distinct sections that are linked. That makes Gallovidian Gravel one of our most accessible routes yet for those without the time to tackle the full adventure in one go. We guarantee even the shortest ride in Galloway will grab your heart and make you want to return as soon as possible though.”

Highlights include stretches that wind through unspoilt nature reserve woodlands teeming with wildlife, Scottish Royal history and sections with a Highlands and Islands feel.

Routes are free to download from the Cycling UK website as a GPX file, ready to use with a cycling computer or smartphone. Alongside the file, riders will also receive essential safety tips about how to ride responsibly and respect the countryside.

The charity has also created a series of guidebooks to purchase, with funds going towards future routes.

Paul Snedker, co-founder and managing director of Saddle Skedaddle, Cycling UK’s official holiday partner, said:“Scotland has always been a popular destination for cycling and this new off-road gravel route in Dumfries and Galloway opens up another part of this speculator country for riders to explore.

“Having developed the long-distance route with Cycling UK, we’ve used our 30 years of cycling holiday experience to create an approved variation of the route that includes accommodation and luggage transfers. It’s a great option for people that want to experience the long-distance route with some added support and likeminded riders.

“To help maintain the new route and make sure it’s here for many, many years to come, Saddle Skedaddle is donating ten pence to Cycling UK for every mile one of our customers rides along Gallovidian Gravel.”

You can learn more about the route by visiting www.cyclinguk.org/routes/long-distance/gallovidian-gravel and download the route GPX by visiting www.cyclinguk.org/routes/gallovidian-gravel-map-and-gpx-file