A bit about us and the creation of the website

The Peak District is well known for its vast range of walks in stunning scenic hills and dales but it's fair to say, not all walks are equal.

I've walked, climbed and cycled quite extensively in this area since I was a student 40 years ago many years ago! My partner Denise and I moved here from Leamington Spa in 2005 and in 2011 we decided we had enough spare time to have a dog (hmm, end of that lovely spare time).

Having been in business since 1984, spare time was something I didn't have a great deal of (nor did Denise who was a teacher until we moved to the Peaks) but times have changed and we both love and value this free time.  One or both of us take our border collies, Chammie and Minnie, for a walk in the hills every day.

I have certain default routes but I'm always trying to find new ones across the Peak District and then improve on them until I've found what I consider to be the most satisfying variant. For me that means routes that stick out in your memory and you want to tell other people about. The latter point here gave me the idea of sharing these routes with anyone who might be looking for a great walk in the Peak District so I decided to document them on a website.

I've called them dog walks as their length is suitable for everyday walks where you can only commit a certain amount of time each day to walking but they're long enough to give a border collie its daily exercise. Admittedly I take a frisbee so Chammie and Minnie get a good workout and many of my preferred routes have water at some point so they can enjoy their other passion, retrieving sticks or stones from the water.

The walks typically range from 1½ to 3½ hours. These times are generally what it takes us to do them and not the calculated time given by Naismith's rule, which is the time given at the head of each route description. We always take longer than the calculated time as our walks involve messing around by rivers, Frisbee time or me trying to improve my photographic ability (can only get better).

The walks are also suitable for people without dogs who are staying in the area for a weekend but only want to spend part of their day walking. Serious walkers will want to extend most of the walks but they could still use any of the walks as the basis for their longer expeditions and hopefully enjoy the particular part of the Peak District the walk is based around.

I hope you really enjoy the walks and please let me have your feedback to any of the walks and/or the website. I'll always listen to constructive criticism but if you are happy with the website and the routes, please tell your friends about it.

Have a great time and enjoy this fantastic region. Thanks for visiting!

Neil Auchterlonie, Denise Eassom, Chammie and Minnie