Dog-friendly Horning

Four and a quarter miles there and back, two hours on grass river wall and boardwalk, following the Bure downstream from Horning to the dyke and hide at Cockshoot Broad, the first Broads lake to be dammed and cleared of nutrient-rich mud. It starts from the Lower Street staithe in Horning, free but tight, and the going is level throughout with no stiles and only two gates. This is water on both sides for most of the way with unfenced banks, so a lead where the path narrows makes sense, and the Broads Authority reminds walkers never to enter the water after a dog and to check policies because many nature reserves and permissive paths do not allow them at all.

Five miles and about two and a half hours, riverbank and estate track, from the thatched staithe at Horning down the Bure to the ferry and inland through the Woodbastwick estate, the tidiest thatched village in Norfolk. Start on Lower Street at Horning where the free village staithe parking sits behind the shops, and expect it to be full from mid-morning in summer; the alternative is the pay-and-display at the top of the village. Dogs are allowed on the footpaths and byways under effective control, but the Broads Authority asks for leads all year near farm animals and a short lead on open access land between 1 March and 31 July for ground-nesting birds; the Bure has steep unfenced banks and a real current.