Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill.
The quiet western shore of Derwent Water, on the side with no road, reached by the Keswick Launch to Hawes End jetty. The outward leg runs south along the lake edge through the parkland at Brandelhow, the first ground the National Trust ever bought in the Lake District, past the Low Brandelhow jetty and the bronze hands sculpture to the picnic table at High Brandelhow. The return doubles back on the upper woodland track beneath a line of Douglas firs to the Hawes End Adventure Centre. It is flat, shaded and lined with shallow gravel entries to the water, which makes it one of the better hot-afternoon walks in the northern Lakes.
Thirty-eight stones in a field east of Keswick with Blencathra and the Helvellyn range around them, free to visit and open at any reasonable hour. Dogs on leads are welcome; the field is grazed by sheep and the ground churns up after rain.
Eight and three quarter miles and 410 metres of climb, four and a half hours: out of Keswick by Portinscale and the west shore to Hawes End, up Skelgill Bank onto Catbells, then down to the Newlands valley and back. Start from the Lakeside car park in Keswick, or take the Keswick Launch to Hawes End - dogs travel for a small fare and it removes three road miles. The ridge is superb for a dog with the head for it, but be honest about the two rock steps low on Skelgill Bank, which are hands-on for people and awkward for a short-legged dog, and the summit ridge is narrow with drops both sides; the fell is grazed throughout and there is no water above the Hawes End gate.
A stile-free mile and a quarter from the Lakeside car park, along the Derwent Water promenade and back over the low wooded hill of Cockshot Wood, with the whole line of Catbells and Causey Pike across the water. There is an optional 250 yard spur out to Friar's Crag, where the path narrows to under three feet and drops steeply to the lake, so it is worth thinking twice with a strong dog. Around Strandshag Bay you choose between a compacted upper path through a sheep-grazed field and a rougher lower path on the shoreline with boulders and tree roots. It is the one walk in Keswick that works with a wheelchair or a pushchair as well as a dog.
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