Long walks that earn the pub lunch afterwards
Eight-mile-plus routes that pair a proper morning out with a fire-lit pub that means it.
A long walk with a dog is less about distance and more about pacing. Eight miles on a flat lake path is an easy morning for a working spaniel; the same eight miles over a Lakeland fell with two stiles and a scree slope is a different afternoon entirely. Plan around the dog you have on the day, not the dog you had last summer — older dogs, young dogs, recovering dogs, and dogs in season all need a route built around them rather than slotted in to one.
The pub at the end matters as much as the path. Look for a fire that's lit by mid-October, water bowls on more than one table, and a landlord who doesn't move your dog to the back when the food arrives. We've listed pubs across the directory that do all three. Walk first, eat second — in that order.