Dog-friendly Nether Wasdale

A short, sharp climb of about 340 metres from the Greendale roadside onto the rocky southern nose of Buckbarrow, the crag that everybody photographs from the Wast Water road without knowing its name. The path leaves the road near Gill Beck and goes almost straight up through bracken and broken rock bands to the 423-metre top, so it is steep rather than long and a fit dog will manage it easily while a short-legged one will not enjoy the rock steps. The reward is the whole of Wast Water, the Screes and the Scafells from a top most people drive past. It is grazed fell throughout, with Herdwicks on the lower bracken slopes all year.

Three and a half miles from the roadside at Greendale Cottages, up the gill past a string of rock pools to Greendale Tarn and round over the 585-metre summit of Middle Fell. It is the quiet side of Wasdale: the Scafell crowds are all in the next valley, and from the top the whole length of Wast Water and the Screes is laid out below, with the Isle of Man visible on a clear evening. Greendale Tarn sits in a deep hollow and is a good place for a dog to cool off. The National Trust rates this a dog-friendly trail but asks for dogs under close control, and its Wasdale guidance asks for a short lead throughout the valley because there is sheep on the fell and in the intake fields.

Seven acres of level camping ground in old Lakeland oak woodland at Nether Wasdale, looking across to the Wast Water Screes and about two miles from the foot of the lake. The site takes a maximum of two dogs per pitch at three pounds each and requires them to be kept on a lead on site. A strict quiet policy applies, with no noise between 11pm and 7am and no loud music at any time, so this is not the place for a dog that barks at every passing torch. The riverside walks along the Irt and the low-level path to the lake foot start from the village.