[1] The village is located on the edge of a 15,000-acre (61 km2) human-made conifer forest, and is approximately 9 miles (14 km) north of Dumfries.

[1] Robert Chambers wrote of the Ae area in 1826, describing it as a moor with a glen (known as Glenae),[2] whose inhabitants were "long famed for broils, battles, and feats of activity".

[3] Chambers wrote that most men in the area were employed in farming and transporting goods on horseback between the village and Glasgow, as well as the cities of Carlisle and Manchester.

There is much wildlife, including deer, fox, hare, weasel, woodpigeon, yellowhammer, sparrowhawk, jay, pheasant, partridge and red squirrel.

The path is wide and generally flat and consists of a combination of cinder and compacted gravel tracks with very few low obstacles and slight inclines.