Dog-friendly walks in Austwick

Six and a half miles and around three and a half hours to the boulder field at Norber, where ice-age erratics sit perched on limestone plinths, returning by the walled Crummack Lane and Thwaite Lane; the middle section over Long Scar is rough, wet and cut by grykes that catch a paw. It starts from the village green in Austwick, where there is free roadside parking and a stop on the 581 bus from Settle. The whole route is working sheep ground and lambing runs from March, so the dog stays on the lead; Austwick Beck gives a drink at the start and finish but there is nothing on the tops, and the field walls here are crossed by very narrow slotted stone stiles - the ones above Nappa Scars are among the tightest in the Dales and a big dog will not pass without help.

Five and a half miles and about three hours through the hazel and ash of Oxenber and Wharfe Woods, over the little hamlet of Feizor and up the short sharp pull to the trig point on Smearsett Scar, which is a proper viewpoint for the effort. Start on the green in Austwick; there is free roadside parking, and Feizor at the halfway point has a tea room that keeps water bowls outside. Oxenber is wood pasture rather than a fenced wood, so stock can be in among the trees and the lead stays on all the way round; there is a beck at Feizor for a drink but nothing on the scar, and the wall crossings between Wharfe and Feizor are the classic Dales squeeze stile - two upright slabs a hand-span apart, impassable for a broad dog without lifting.