Heslington Tillmire and Walmgate Stray

Four and a half miles of common and wet grassland on the southern edge of the city, two hours, dead flat on farm tracks and field-edge paths with no stiles and one long boggy stretch along the Tillmire boundary that never really dries out. Start at the University of York sports centre on Heslington Lane, where there is limited parking, or come out on the number 66 bus which runs to Heslington every ten minutes and drops you a field away. The Tillmire is a Site of Special Scientific Interest with breeding lapwing, snipe and curlew and sheep grazing through the summer, so dogs stay on the lead across the whole of it and the reward is the birds; Walmgate Stray at the York end is grazed by cattle in summer, which are far more dangerous than they look when calves are about, and there is no clean water for a dog anywhere on the route.