Roecliffe Ramble to Westwick Lock

Six flat miles out along the Ure from Roecliffe to Westwick Lock and back by the navigation towpath, two and a half hours, on riverbank and towpath with a few field gates and no climb at all. Start at the village green in Roecliffe, a mile west of Boroughbridge, where there is roadside parking by the church and a waymarked blue-arrow route signed to Westwick Lock; Boroughbridge itself is on the Harrogate to Ripon bus route if you would rather walk out from the town. The riverside fields are grazed and the summer cattle here are the real hazard rather than the water, so read each field before letting the dog go; there are information panels and a view over to Newby Hall at the lock, the Ure is deep and cold with steep banks, and the towpath half stays walkable in winter while the meadows flood.