Dog-friendly walks in Ambleside

Three and three quarter miles with a genuine 290 metres of climb in it, so short but not soft: a steep zigzag out of Rothay Park onto the knobbly top of Loughrigg, then a quick drop east to the little beach on Rydal Water. The start is Rothay Park in Ambleside, a five-minute walk from the bus stops, which saves paying for a space; the small Pelter Bridge car park on the far side is an alternative but holds barely twenty cars. Sheep graze the fell top all year so leads there, but the last mile along the river Rothay and the lake shore is safely enclosed, the stepping stones give dogs an easy paddle, and every wall on the route is crossed by a gate.

Six and a half miles and about three and a half hours, on made paths almost the whole way: a steady pull over the top of Loughrigg Fell, then the broad shelf of Loughrigg Terrace above Grasmere before dropping to Rydal Cave and the shore of Rydal Water. It starts in the middle of Ambleside, so the 555 and 599 buses from Windermere station serve it directly; the Rydal Road pay-and-display car park behind the library is the nearest but is full by mid-morning in any decent weather. Loughrigg is common grazing with Herdwicks on it all year, so leads on the open fell, but Rydal Water has shallow shingle beaches where a dog can swim, and the walled sections have gates rather than stiles throughout.

Ambleside's short-legs circuit and the one most people do twice a day from the town. From the Vicarage Road gate beside St Mary's the park runs flat and grassy to the River Rothay, over the arched Miller Bridge and up onto Under Loughrigg, the walled lane on the west bank with Loughrigg Fell rising straight off it. Turn left down the lane to Rothay Bridge and the riverside path takes you back into the park under the beeches. Westmorland and Furness Council's dogs order does not put a lead requirement on the open grass, but it does require leads on the sports pitches and it excludes dogs from the fenced play area, both of which sit in the middle of the park.

Eleven miles and 890 metres of ascent, six hours for most people: a long grassy ridge walk up over Low Pike and High Pike to Fairfield, then back down the Rydal side by Great Rigg and Nab Scar, with no scrambling anywhere but a lot of stone wall to follow. It starts at the Rydal Road car park in Ambleside and finishes on the Rydal road a mile out of town, so most people walk the last stretch back along the pavement. This is the whole day out and a fit dog will manage it, but there is no water at all on the ridge between Low Sweden Bridge and Rydal Beck, sheep are on every part of the horseshoe, and the drop off the Dove Crag and Hart Crag edges is sheer - a dog that runs to a view needs a lead up there.

The Ambleside side of Wansfell, taken by way of the waterfall rather than up from Troutbeck. Stock Ghyll Lane leaves the market place and the falls are a five-minute detour into the wooded gorge, where the path is fenced but the drops beside it are real. Above the woods the route climbs open pasture to the 482m top, and the return runs south-west along the ridge to High Skelghyll and down through Skelghyll Wood past Jenkin Crag, which is the best view of Windermere on the walk. The pasture between the woods and the summit is grazed throughout.

A flat mile at the head of Windermere, useful when the fells are in cloud or the dog is old. From the Waterhead pay-and-display the promenade runs past the steamer piers, then Borrans Park opens out as mown grass down to a shingle shore where dogs can get in the water away from the boat landings. The far end of the field is Galava, the earthwork platform of the Roman fort, from which a path carries on to the mouth of the Rothay and Brathay. Note that the promenade itself is a dogs-on-leads area under the council's order, while the park grass behind it is not.