Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Seven and a half miles and around three and a quarter hours with very little climb, following the wilder western shore of Crummock Water out to the shingle spit at Low Ling Crag and returning under Melbreak. It starts in Buttermere village from the National Trust car park; there is also a small free parking area at Lanthwaite Green at the far end if you want to walk it the other way round. The spit itself is the point of the walk for a dog - a curved beach of clean shingle with deep water either side and nobody on it - but the shore path is rough and boggy in places, there is a beck ford that runs knee-deep after rain, and the Scale Bridge fields are grazed with lambs from March.
The old Fish Inn in the middle of Buttermere village, between Buttermere and Crummock Water and at the start of the lake circuit, the Rannerdale ridge and the Scale Force path. The hotel lists dog friendly as one of its headline features, gives a reserved parking space with each room and will lay on a private breakfast at no charge, which is the practical fix for a hotel that does not want dogs in a full dining room. There is a large beer garden and the bar and all-day dining are open to non-residents as well.
A mile and a half from the free roadside car park at Cinderdale on Crummock Water, out along the fellside below Grasmoor and back along the lake shore. The high leg passes a post-medieval sheepfold rebuilt by the National Trust in the 1990s and a wall stone said to have been used to sharpen iron age swords. The drop to the shore is steep and slippery when wet. On the lakeside leg the path darkens almost to black where it crosses a medieval bloomery, and lumps of iron slag still show on the beach.
A farm cafe in Buttermere village with its own paid car park, a few yards from the start of the lake circuit and the Rannerdale path. Its own site says the cafe is dog friendly, and there is a dog seating area indoors rather than a bench outside the door, which is the difference between a usable stop and a wet one in this valley. The parking charge includes use of the toilets, and the car park is a useful backup when the National Trust one is full.
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