Dog-friendly walks in Borrowdale

Five and a half miles and about two and a half hours for 230 metres of climb: the Allerdale Ramble along the Derwent from Seatoller, then the slate spoil zigzag onto Castle Crag, the smallest Wainwright and the best view in Borrowdale. Start at the National Trust Seatoller car park at the foot of Honister, paid, around 60 spaces, and usually the last car park in the valley to fill. The riverside section is enclosed and the Derwent has deep pools a dog can swim in, but the final 80 metres onto the crag climbs loose slate spoil that cuts pads and is genuinely steep, and the summit is a small rocky platform with drops on three sides - many people leave the dog with a companion at the col.

Seven miles from Seatoller into the roughest ground in the northern Lakes, up the old packhorse route to Styhead. The lane runs to Seathwaite Farm, through the farmyard gates and up the beck to Stockley Bridge, a Grade I listed packhorse bridge of 1540 partly rebuilt after the 1969 floods. From there the pitched path climbs Styhead Pass under Great Gable to Styhead Tarn and the mountain rescue stretcher box, then crosses to Sprinkling Tarn before dropping back down Ruddy Gill and Grains Gill. It is graded challenging, the rock steps are awkward for a short-legged dog and there is no shelter of any kind above Stockley Bridge.

Five miles from the Bowder Stone car park through the Jaws of Borrowdale, laid out around the rock rather than the summits. The first section to Grange is barely walked and good for wildlife; from Grange Bridge the route climbs the knoll of Peace Howe, bought for the nation in 1917 as a place of quiet after the First World War, then drops through Hollows Farm to the River Derwent and works south under Castle Crag. Along the way you cross the boundary between the smooth Skiddaw slates and the gnarly Borrowdale volcanics, and pass a series of ice-scoured roches moutonnees. There is river access at several points and a short stretch of the B5289 to cross at Grange.

A long day out of Rosthwaite over the shoulder of Great Crag, taking in two tarns and the hanging valley at Watendlath. The bridleway climbs past the group of pines known as the Six Sisters, with the whole of the Seathwaite valley behind, before dropping to the tea room at Watendlath. From there the route turns south over boggy moorland to Dock Tarn, then down a pitched path through the old sessile oaks of Lingy End into Stonethwaite and back along the beck. It is graded challenging by the National Trust and the middle section is genuinely rough and wet underfoot.

A short there-and-back from Seatoller that climbs through the three parts of a Lakeland hill farm in under two and a half miles: the in-bye hay meadows, the wood pasture with its wild apple trees and rare lichens, then the gate in the fell wall onto open fell. Above the wall the track leads into the hidden valley of Combe under Coombe Crag, where a large waterfall makes the turning point and the picnic spot. The drops beside the fall are steep and unfenced. One field on the way out has yurts in it from April to October, and the wood pasture is grazed by cattle rather than sheep.

Just under four miles and less than two hours, 190 metres of climb: the packhorse path from Ashness Bridge up to the hanging valley at Watendlath, then back down the beck past the waterfall to the Lodore shore. It starts at the tiny National Trust parking area at Ashness Bridge on the Watendlath lane, which holds barely a dozen cars - the alternative is Great Wood or the Keswick Launch to Ashness Gate and the walk up. Watendlath Tarn is a fine place for a dog to swim and the packhorse path is walled most of the way, but the hamlet is a working farm with sheep in every field, the Watendlath lane is single-track with passing places and no pavement, and the beck path has an unfenced drop by the falls.