Dog-friendly Lynmouth

A short 1.75 miles across high moorland to the summit of Butter Hill, about an hour with 120 metres of climbing on grass and stony track, and the biggest view for the least effort on this coast: Wales one way and the coast past Lynmouth the other. Start from the free Barna Barrow car park on the common above Countisbury, signed off the A39 by the Blue Ball Inn, which takes coastal buses and has a shorter 0.8-mile version straight from the car park. Exmoor ponies graze this common all year so a lead is the right call whatever the season, the ground is open with no stiles at all, and there is no water up here, though the Blue Ball at the start has bowls and a stone floor for wet dogs.

Three and a half miles up the wooded gorge of the East Lyn to the meeting of the waters, about two and a quarter hours with 160 metres of climbing on a rocky riverside path that is undulating rather than steep, returning by the opposite bank. Start on the Esplanade at Lynmouth where the pay-and-display car parks sit either side of the harbour, or drop in from the National Trust car park on Watersmeet Road if you would rather walk downhill first. It is the best hot-day walk on this coast for a dog, shaded the whole way with deep pools and shingle bars to swim from and a National Trust tea garden at the top that serves outside with bowls, and the only real care is the rock steps above the water and the road crossing at Watersmeet.