We know this area
Dog walks: Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
Trekosa finds dog walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles to suit your dog and you. Tell us once what your dog finds hard, and we show you walks near you with the roads, stiles, livestock and council dog rules already marked, so the first surprise of the walk is not a field of ewes.
Done and live. We have measured every walk against the map: the footpaths and rights of way, what is underfoot, and what you will meet on the way. We have not read the council rules about dogs here yet, so a walk here says they are unknown rather than absent.
Three walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
Three of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, from those that start nearest the middle of its towns: a 10.7 km loop, a 4.1 km there and back and a 1.5 km one-way walk. How we pick them
Where these go is in the app
Create an account- Near Kirkwall (longest)10.7 km · 184 min · A loop
- Near Kirkwall (in between)4.1 km · 69 min · There and back
- Near Kirkwall (shortest)1.5 km · 26 min · One way
What the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are like
We have measured 35,000 walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles so far, each against the same public map data: where the path runs, what is beside it, the roads it meets and what is on the way. Each bar is the share of those walks the sentence is true of.
How far they go
Under 3 km: 52% of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, against 38% in the typical county we cover.
Where the walks fall by length. The five bars add up to the whole, give or take the rounding.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Under 3 km | 52% |
| 3 to 5 km | 21% |
| 5 to 8 km | 14% |
| 8 to 12 km | 7% |
| Over 12 km | 4% |
What shape they are
There and back the same way: 71% of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, against 52% in the typical county we cover.
A loop brings you back without repeating a step. There and back retraces the way out.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| A loop | 3% |
| There and back the same way | 71% |
| One way, ending somewhere else | 25% |
What is beside the path
No farm grassland at all: 75% of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, against 3% in the typical county we cover.
Shares of walks where the ground beside the path is a given kind for the stated part of the way.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Under trees for a third or more of the way | 1% |
| Beside water for a tenth or more | 51% |
| On open access land for a third or more | <1% |
| Through a park or green space for a third or more | 13% |
| Beside crop fields for a third or more | 60% |
| Beside farm grassland for half or more | 9% |
| No farm grassland at all | 75% |
| Off road for four fifths or more | 28% |
| On roads or lanes for half or more | 57% |
| Through built-up streets for half or more | 10% |
What might stop you
Never beside a busy road: 92% of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, against 71% in the typical county we cover.
Shares of walks with none of each thing on the way. A road counts when it runs within about fifteen metres of the path.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Never beside a fast road | 98% |
| Never beside a busy road | 92% |
| No busy road to cross | 92% |
| No stile, gate or cattle grid | 76% |
| No steps | 96% |
What is on the way
Pass a pub: under 1% of the walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, against 27% in the typical county we cover.
Shares of walks that start by, or pass, each of these.
| Walks that | Share of walks measured |
|---|---|
| Start where you can park, at a car park or on a minor road | 54% |
| Pass a pub | <1% |
| Pass a dog-waste bin | 5% |
| Pass a public toilet | 8% |
| Pass a drinking-water tap | 1% |
| Pass a busy beauty spot | 28% |
Measured on 9 October 2026 from the map. Scotland has no crop map, so farm grassland here is read from the Habitat Map of Scotland, which is not directly comparable with England's figures. How these figures are made
Walks in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, for your dog
If you live in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, it is your home county, and every walk in it is free, for good. Tell the app what your dog finds hard and it shows you walks that suit, with anything that might stop you shown first.
Anywhere in Great Britain, even with no signal.
Further is the Trekosa subscription: walks beyond your home county, and help on the walk itself. The OS Explorer map, 1:25,000, on any walk while you have signal. Press Offline on a walk and its map stays on your phone until you remove it, for when the signal goes. Drift off the path and you get a quiet buzz.
The first 250 households have it for good. After that, £4.99 a month or £34.99 a year.
Towns in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
What the walks near each of these are like, beside Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles as a whole, and how many pass the checks we run for five kinds of dog.
For your dog, town by town
Each town's walks, taken through the checks the app runs for one kind of dog: how many pass, and what stops the rest. The share is of every walk measured near each town.
For a nervous or reactive dog
For a dog scared of traffic
For a short walk from the car
Where you may walk in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
In Scotland the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives you a right of responsible access to most land, so the question is less where you may walk than what is on the way. We measure Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles's walks for livestock, roads, woodland and water, as we do everywhere.
We checked Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles for military live-firing ground and hold 3 areas of it: Cape Wrath Firing Range, Tain Air Weapons Range and MOD Hebrides (Range Head). A walk is checked against them before we show it.
Council dog rules in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles
We have not yet listed the councils in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles or read their dog rules, so a walk here says the rules are unknown rather than absent. That is deliberate. A blank space looks like permission, and it is not.
Every walk in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles is checked against the same data as everywhere else we cover. See what we check and where it comes from.