• Home
• Quick links
• Library
• Help

Ae is only 20 minutes from the M74 motorway, but ride its trails and you’ll think you’re in another world.

The trails

Ae's green- and blue-graded trails are ideal for entry level riders and families, while its red-graded and downhill routes are for the more experienced rider.

An entry level mountain bike trail, the green-graded Ae Valley Route is aimed mainly at families with young children. It’s a 9km loop which runs up the Ae valley to a lovely viewpoint overlooking the Water of Ae.  A beautiful place to stop and picnic with lots of rocks around the river. 

The Larch View Route, blue-graded, shares much of its route with the Green trail - the difference is a 4.5km section on forest road, giving a trail length of 13.5km in all.  It's suitable for those families looking to take in a little bit more of the forest than just the short green-graded valley route.

The red-graded Ae Line – Scottish Power Renewables Trail is a challenging, high quality ride through quiet coniferous forest.  This route has an aggressive freeride style to it with some large and sometimes intimidating trail features in addition to very steep climbs and descents.

Ridden at speed, things get very exciting, but if you are more cautious you can keep your wheels on the ground all the way round. For many, the highlight of the route is the final descent of Omega Man, with its multiplicity of jumps.

If Downhill is more your thing, The Shredder, graded 'orange bike park', is an entry level Downhill track giving you a taste of everything DH. 

Starting beside The Shredder and also orange bike park-graded, the 1.6km Ae Downhill route provides a bigger challenge. Its seriously gnarly rocky sections, slippery roots and huge drops will satisfy the most demanding of riders.   An uplift service is sometimes available (pre-booking required)  See facilities details, below.

Trail profiles

The Ae trail profiles (PDF 377k) show where climbs and descents occur on the red, green and blue routes at Ae.

Facilities

Parking
Car parking is available at the trail head and at the café.  See details of how to get to Ae by car.

Toilets and showers
Toilet and shower facilities are available at the café.

Ae Bike Shop and Café
The café and bike shop are open 7 days a week, 9.00am - 5.00pm. See www.Ae7.co.uk for details. Nearby Dumfries also has plenty of options.

Uplift service
For details of the uplift service, contact Tally on 07709 144 299, or see www.upliftscotland.com.  Pre-booking is essential.  Uplift dates are also published with the Ae details on the trail conditions page.

Bike hire
Bike hire facilities at the Ae cafe and Bike shop. See www.Ae7.co.uk for further details.

G&G cycles in Dumfries also provides mountain bike hire.  Contact www.cycle-centre.com or phone 01387 270275 for details.

Other facilities
The town of Dumfries is around 15 minutes drive away, and has a great range of facilities available.

The Ae stane

See what are the 7stanes? for details of the Ae sculpted stane.