Dog-friendly walks in Denton

Denton is a hamlet of about a hundred people with no shop and no pub, so what it has is the way out of it. Smithy Lane leaves Denton Road at the top of the hamlet and runs north-east as a single-track lane, then becomes Low Badger Gate, an old walled track that climbs steadily onto Denton Moor with the length of Ilkley Moor behind you across Wharfedale. The moor here is registered open country under the CRoW Act and carries no local dog restriction at all, which is not true of every grouse moor in this valley, so it is a rare one where a dog is welcome on the open ground within the standard rules. Sheep graze the walled fields the whole way up and the moor is keepered, so a lead is the sensible default rather than an occasional courtesy.

The lane link between the two smallest villages on this side of Wharfedale, and the way to walk to a pub from Denton, which has none of its own. Drop down Denton Road to the valley floor, turn east on Low Park Road and follow it and then West Lane all the way into Askwith, with the Wharfe below on your right and the whole face of Ilkley Moor opposite. It is single-track tarmac nearly the whole way, with grass verges, high hedges and very little traffic, but there is no pavement and no continuous verge, so a dog stays on the lead from start to finish. The Penny Bun at the Askwith end takes dogs in the bar, the snugs and on the terrace, which gives this two miles a proper finish.