Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) has closed off the most challenging of the Moray Monster Trails because it has become unsafe to ride.

Closure of the Gully Monster black trail comes after a recent inspection that determined that the route posed a potential danger to riders.

The other trails at the site are still open.

Justin Livesey, FLS’ Regional Visitor Services Manager, said;

“Unfortunately, over time this trail has become too dangerous to ride so we’ve closed it off and removed all of the route markers.

“It would be a very costly and quite difficult job to effect repairs to the standard that would make this route usable. At the moment we’re focussed on getting our forestry activities back up to speed, so we just don’t have the resources available to tackle this.

“The safety of any and all of our visitors is one of our top priorities and we do our utmost to provide riders with safe trails. We understand that the trail closure might be disappointing but the remaining trails are all still good to ride so we hope that riders will continue to visit.”

Any mountain bikers visiting Moray Monster Trails are urged to stick to way-marked routes and to make no attempt to follow the closed trail.

Notes to editors

1. Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) manages forests and land owned by Scottish Ministers in a way that supports and enables economically sustainable forestry; conserves and enhances the environment; delivers benefits for people and nature; and supports Scottish Ministers in their stewardship of Scotland's national forests and land.

2. forestryandland.gov.scot | twitter.com/ForestryLS

3. Media enquiries to Paul Munro, Media Manager, Forestry and Land Scotland Media Office 0131 370 5059 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.