Glentress mountain bike site hit by upgrade work delay

The café and bike shop at Glentress will not fully reopen until the middle of July

Improvement work at a popular mountain bike destination has been hit by an "unwanted and unwelcome" delay.

The replacement of a boardwalk at Glentress in the Borders will take longer than expected after groundwork issues came to light.

It means the café and bike shop will reopen about two weeks late - with a "limited offering" - by 28 June.

The boardwalk work is part of a wider Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) investment of £6m in the site.

News of the delay follows the recent announcement that work on new trails in the area for the upcoming UCI World Championships had experienced issues due to recent dry weather.

Now the boardwalk work has been affected after problems which only came to light after old decking was removed and the framework lifted.

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The upgrade began in the middle of April at the site near Peebles and had been expected to last for a maximum of two months but it will now take longer.

It is hoped the café and bike shop can reopen with a "limited offering" by 28 June and fully reopen on 14 July.

Trail work at the site has been affected by the long dry period of weather

Martin Page, regional visitor services manager, said: "The boardwalk replacement will be one of the finishing touches that will further improve and enhance the Glentress experience for all visitors.

"However, removing the old structure revealed some additional work required to improve the drainage system and reroute existing services to accommodate the new surfacing being installed.

"We're now having to add to the plans' measures to make these elements safe and that is going to result in a short delay to opening."

'Minimise delay'

He said that meant they could bring forward plans for new bike wash facilities and a secure area for the bike shop which would allow those to be put in place earlier than anticipated.

"We've spoken to operators of the café and the bike shop who understand the problem and support our efforts to rectify the issues we've uncovered," he said.

"This is wholly unexpected and unwelcome but I would like to reassure all our visitors that we are doing our utmost to minimise the delay and get both these businesses open."

FLS said it had been working to minimise disruption ahead of the UCI event before the handover to event organisers in mid-July.