Haverigg Beach
A wide sand and shingle beach at the mouth of the Duddon, backed by marram dunes and running west towards Silecroft with Black Combe standing behind it. At low water the sand is firm and vast. There is no seasonal dog ban here: Cumberland Council's dog control order lists no beach anywhere in the county as either a dog exclusion area or a dogs-on-lead area, so the sand is open to dogs off the lead all year round, which is a genuine finding rather than a gap in the record. What is restricted is the land behind the beach. There are no lifeguards and the Duddon channel runs hard on the ebb, so keep a swimming dog well away from the mouth of the estuary.
Haverigg dunes and Millom Sands
Out along the sand west from the Haverigg beach car park with Black Combe filling the view inland, then back through the marram dunes and along the Haverigg pool into the village. At low water the sand is firm and enormous and a dog can run for a mile without meeting a road; at high water the walk is on the dune paths instead, which are soft going. There is no seasonal dog ban on this beach. The play area at Haverigg is the one place on the route dogs may not go.
Hodbarrow lagoon and the outer barrier
A circuit of the lagoon at RSPB Hodbarrow, the flooded pit of the old Hodbarrow iron mine, held back from the Duddon by a massive outer sea barrier. The main path in from the Mainsgate Road car park is rolled stone, firm and wide enough for a wheelchair, and runs a mile and a half to the hide; beyond that the barrier gives an open walk to the lighthouse with the estuary on one side and the lagoon on the other. Terns, ringed plovers and oystercatchers breed on the shingle here and natterjack toads use the pools, which is why the RSPB requires leads throughout. There are no toilets on site, the nearest being a mile away at Haverigg.