The Wheatsheaf

Two and a half easy miles beside the Wye, an hour at most, on level gravel paths and a short stretch of pavement through the town. Start from the Bakewell Recreation Ground car park by the bridge, which is pay-and-display and the best bet in a town where parking is scarce on market Mondays. The river is slow and shallow at the weir and dogs swim there constantly, the packhorse crossing at Holme Bridge is a quiet spot to dry off, and only the last few hundred yards along Buxton Road need a lead for traffic.

Just under seven miles and about three and a half hours, climbing through Manners Wood and over Ball Cross before dropping into Chatsworth park and returning across Calton Pastures. Start at the Bakewell Recreation Ground car park; if you would rather halve the climbing, park at Chatsworth itself and walk it the other way round. Chatsworth requires dogs on a lead everywhere in the park and garden because of the deer and grazing sheep, dogs are barred from the farmyard and playground though there are tie-up posts outside, and there are drinking stations at the stables courtyard.

Nine and a half miles there and back on the old Midland Railway line, four hours at a stroll, and level enough that the only work is the distance itself. It starts at Hassop Station two miles north of Bakewell, where the pay car park has a cafe and bookshop and fills by mid-morning at weekends; the four lit tunnels come in the second half. The surface is smooth grit the whole way, which makes this the kindest walk in Derbyshire for an old or arthritic dog, but it is shared with cyclists and horses, so close control matters more than a lead, and there is no water on the trail itself between the stations.