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.
Ten and three quarter miles and about four and three quarter hours, near-level shoreline the whole way round with only 260 metres of climb in it, most of that on the Manesty side. Start at the Lakeside car park by the Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, paid and large but full by ten in season; the Keswick Launch stops at seven jetties round the lake and takes dogs, so the walk can be cut short at any of them. This is the best long lake walk in the county for a dog - shingle bays every few hundred yards, shade under the Brandelhow oaks, and bowls outside the theatre cafe - but the Calfclose Bay and Manesty fields are grazed, the launch jetties get crowded, and the short stretch of the Borrowdale road at Barrow Bay has no pavement.
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.
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