Dog-friendly walks in Berwick upon Tweed

An easy mile and three quarters there and back along Quay Walls, past Ness Gate and out onto the half-mile stone pier to the squat red lighthouse at its end, with the whole of Spittal and the Tweed mouth on one side and open North Sea on the other. It is flat concrete and stone the whole way with no stiles and no gates. The council's dog control PSPO carries no exclusion or lead order here. What matters instead is the sea: the pier has no railing on the seaward side for much of its length, waves break clean over the parapet in any easterly, and it is closed off by the harbour authority in rough weather. Keep a dog close and turn round if spray is landing on the deck.

Three and a half miles there and back upstream from below Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge, following the north bank of the Tweed out of town through the trees to the Whiteadder confluence and Canty's Bridge on the Paxton road. It leaves the crowds within five minutes and the far end is all heron, goosander and salmon nets. Bank path and estate track, muddy after rain and with two kissing gates. The county dog control PSPO puts no exclusion or lead order on the route, so it is off-lead ground, but the bank is undercut in places with a fast deep river below and the last field before Canty's Bridge is grazed.

Two and a bit miles crossing the Tweed twice, out over the 1624 Old Bridge into Tweedmouth, west along the south bank under the Royal Tweed Bridge to the foot of Stephenson's Royal Border Bridge viaduct, then back across the Royal Tweed Bridge and down to Quay Walls. Riverbank underfoot for most of it, with a road pavement over each bridge and a set of steps at the Tweedmouth end of the Old Bridge. The council's dog control PSPO places no exclusion on any of this ground, but the two road bridges are classified routes with narrow footways, so a short lead is required there. Swans and eider ducks sit on the mud below the Old Bridge at low water and a loose dog will put them up.

A mile and a half round the top of the only complete Elizabethan town walls in Britain, starting at Meg's Mount above the Royal Tweed Bridge and running clockwise over Cumberland Bastion, Brass Bastion and Windmill Bastion before dropping to King's Mount and back along Quay Walls above the Tweed. The surface is mown grass and gravel with paved stretches, and it is flat apart from the ramp at each bastion. Northumberland County Council's dog control PSPO puts no exclusion or lead order on the ramparts, so a dog can be off the lead here, but there are long unfenced drops of twenty feet or more onto the outer ditch with nothing at the edge, and the walls pass over Ness Gate and Scots Gate where you step straight onto traffic. Bins are frequent along Quay Walls.

A two and a half mile loop from the Cocklawburn laybys, north along the sand and the fossil-bearing limestone ledges towards Far Point, then back inland over the fixed dunes past the ruined limekilns and the old waggonway to the shore lane. Rough dune grass, rabbit holes and one short pull up off the beach. The county dog control PSPO puts no exclusion or seasonal ban on this stretch, so it is off-lead sand all year. The dunes behind are grazed in places and hold ground-nesting birds through spring, and the limekiln ruins have open shafts fenced only with wire.

Two miles there and back along the Victorian promenade at Spittal, from the far end of the sea wall north to Sandstell Point where the Tweed comes out, then a short way up the estuary shore towards the old jetty. Level tarmac the whole way with the sand alongside, so it works with a buggy or a stiff dog. Northumberland County Council's dog control PSPO names only Newbiggin and Blyth as seasonal dog-free beaches, so Spittal sand carries no summer ban and a dog can be off the lead here in August. The estuary end has strong tidal flow and the sandbars cover fast, and the Spittal play park is enclosed, which puts it out of bounds under the same order.

Two and three quarter miles south from the end of Spittal promenade, past the sandstone slabs at Huds Head and the old Scremerston colliery ground, to the dunes and limekilns at Cocklawburn. It is beach and low cliff-top path the whole way, dropping onto sand wherever the tide allows, and it is one of the few Northumberland walks where you can go the whole distance and meet nobody. There is no seasonal dog ban on any of it: the county dog control PSPO lists only Newbiggin and Blyth as restricted beaches. Time it round the tide, because the rock shelves below Huds Head cover on a big flood and force you up onto a narrow path above them.