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Ripon · 5 checked

Dog-friendly walks in Ripon

Boots on. These are the Ripon walks worth the drive, with lead rules and livestock warnings marked.

WAGFINDER No photo yet
N 176 YD 1.6 MI · LOOP
DOGS WELCOME

Hell Wath nature trail

Ripon · HG4 2LA
No reviews yet
1.6MILES
50mTIME
35mCLIMB
95%OFF-ROAD
Off-lead allowed

A gentle mile and a half of meadow, glade and riverbank on the south-west edge of the city, three quarters of an hour, with easy gravel paths through most of it and only a couple of short rises where the ground drops to the Skell. The car park is on Hell Wath Lane off Whitcliffe Lane, free and rarely full, and it is a twenty-minute walk from Ripon bus station if you would rather leave the car. Dogs run free here and the River Skell is shallow, clean and easy to get in and out of, which makes this one of the best hot-day walks in the district; there is no livestock, and the surfaced paths keep it usable in the depths of winter when the meadows themselves are sodden.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›
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176 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors 1.2 MI · LOOP
DOGS WELCOME

Quarry Moor Local Nature Reserve

Ripon · HG4 1RU
No reviews yet
1.2MILES
35mTIME
20mCLIMB
95%OFF-ROAD
Off-lead allowed

A mile and a quarter of limestone grassland and scrub on the southern edge of the city, half an hour at a stroll, with an all-weather circular path that is genuinely flat and firm enough for a wheelchair or an arthritic dog in February. Parking is free in the reserve's own car park just off the A61 south of Ripon, and the Harrogate to Ripon bus stops on the main road a couple of minutes away. There is no livestock and dogs may be off lead on the main circuit, though the fenced wildflower meadow is out of bounds and there are dog bins at the entrance; bring water, because the old quarry face holds nothing a dog can drink from.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›
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880 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors 4.6 MI · OUT & BACK
SOME LIMITS

Ripon Canal Towpath

Ripon
No reviews yet
4.6MILES
1:55TIME
15mCLIMB
90%OFF-ROAD

Two and a third miles each way of dead-level towpath from the restored canal basin in Ripon down past Littlethorpe and three locks to Oxclose Lock, where the canal meets the River Ure, making a four-and-a-half-mile round on firm ground that barely notices the weather. Start at Ripon Canal Basin off Bondgate Green, ten minutes from the Market Place and a short walk from the bus station; there is parking at the basin and a cafe at the marina. It is a green corridor full of kingfishers and moorhens, and the flat surface is a gift for an old dog, but the water is deep and cold at the locks and the towpath is shared with cyclists, so keep dogs on the lead.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›
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176 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors 1.5 MI · LOOP
SOME LIMITS

Ripon Riverside Ramble

Ripon · HG4 1DZ
No reviews yet
1.5MILES
45mTIME
20mCLIMB
65%OFF-ROAD

A mile and a half of the city's own waymarked riverside trail, three quarters of an hour, all of it on pavement, park path or firm riverbank with no stile and no climb worth the name. It starts outside Ripon Town Hall in the Market Square, where the long-stay car parks are a couple of minutes away and every bus in the district terminates, and it passes the twelfth-century Mary Magdalen leper chapel on the way to the Ure. The whole route is surfaced enough to stay walkable through the wettest January, both rivers give a dog a drink and the Skell has shallow gravel entries near Bondgate Green, but the town-centre streets at either end mean a lead on for a good third of it.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›
WAGFINDER No photo yet
440 YD © OpenStreetMap contributors 3.6 MI · LOOP
SOME LIMITS

Sharow and the River Ure

Ripon · HG4 1JX
No reviews yet
3.6MILES
1:35TIME
25mCLIMB
85%OFF-ROAD
Off-lead allowed Livestock — leads on

Three and a half flat miles using the footpaths along both banks of the Ure between North Bridge and the Boroughbridge Road bridge, an hour and a half, with a couple of field gates and no gradient at all. Start at North Bridge on the A61 north of the cathedral where there is limited street parking, or walk out from the Market Square in ten minutes; the Ripon to Thirsk bus stops at Sharow village green on the far side of the loop. The riverside pastures are grazed by cattle through the summer and a herd with calves is by some distance the most dangerous thing you will meet on this walk, so give them room and keep the dog close; the Ure is deep and fast in places, better for drinking than swimming, and the low meadows flood every winter and can stay under for weeks.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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