Durham is a small city that rewards anyone willing to walk out of it. The Market Place and the Cathedral pull the crowds, and rightly so, but five minutes in any direction the River Wear takes over — and with it comes a different Durham: slow water, rowing boats, willow trees, and a footpath network that feels far more rural than it has any right to be. If you're staying a night or two in one of the city's boutique guesthouses, the riverside is where you'll want to spend your spare hours. Here's how a local would string it together.

Start with the river, not the Market Place

Leave your bags at the guesthouse, resist the temptation to head straight uphill, and drop down to the water instead. The Wear loops around the peninsula so tightly that almost wherever you join it, you're within a ten-minute walk of a bridge. From the bottom of Claypath, the steps down to the riverside put you beside the rowing club, where early mornings bring coaching shouts and the knock of oars; from the top of the town, take the path behind the cathedral and you'll emerge on the Bailey with the water below you and the rooftops stacked up across the gorge. Either entrance works, and both feel like slipping out of a back door.

The classic loop: three bridges in an hour

The circuit that locals do when they want an hour's air is simple. Cross Elvet Bridge — the old one, with the archways and the uneven cobbles — then turn right along the water past the bandstand and the university buildings on the far bank. Follow the path to Prebends Bridge, a graceful stone span that offers the single best view of the cathedral anywhere in the city, reflected into the water on a still day. Cross there, climb the slope up onto the Bailey, and walk through the cathedral precincts and down the cobbled street to Kingsgate footbridge, a slender concrete crossing that feels alarmingly modern and then wins you over.

That's roughly a mile and a half, and it'll take you forty minutes without stopping. Allow ninety if you're the sort of person who lingers on benches, which you should be.

Pelaw Wood and the Racecourse: the quiet side

When the centre feels busy, head east. From the bottom of the Bailey, the path slips under the road and into Pelaw Wood, a proper little ravine of beech and sycamore with the river rushing below. The route climbs gently, passes the old quarry faces, and empties out onto the Racecourse, a broad open flat where the whole city seems to exhale at weekends.

This is where Durham walks its dogs, kicks footballs, and watches the rowers come past in the late afternoon light. Carry on along the top path and you'll reach a cluster of benches looking back towards the cathedral, framed by trees. It's the best picnic spot in the city and very few visitors ever find it.

Heading south to Old Durham Gardens and Houghall Woods

For a longer walk — two to three hours, mostly level after the first climb — follow the south bank past the university sports grounds and out towards Old Durham Gardens, a restored walled garden with terraces, fruit trees and a handful of benches, all that remains of a much older estate. Beyond it the path continues into Houghall Woods, where the river bends and the noise of the city finally disappears entirely. You can push on to Shincliffe and loop back over the fields, or simply turn round when you've had enough and retrace your steps.

Practical matters: timing, footpaths and benches

• Footwear: the riverside paths are tarmac in places and muddy in others. Trainers are fine in summer; bring something with grip between October and March.
• Flooding: after heavy rain the lower paths, particularly around Pelaw Wood and the Racecourse, can go under. There are higher alternatives signposted, but check before setting out.
• Steps: almost every route in and out of the gorge involves a flight of them. The Bailey and the path down from Dunelm House are the steepest; the Prebends Bridge approach is gentler.
• Timing: the light between 7am and 9am, and again in the last hour before dusk, is what makes the walks worth doing. Midday in summer can be exposed and busy.
• Benches: plentiful on the Racecourse and along the Bailey side; scarcer through Pelaw Wood, so take your moment when it comes.
• Facilities: cafés and pubs near Elvet Bridge and the Market Place, but nothing once you're out towards Houghall, so carry water.

Making a weekend of it

The joy of basing yourself in a small guesthouse here is that you can walk one loop before breakfast and another after dinner without ever needing the car. Ask your host which direction the river runs from the front door — it's rarely more than a few minutes either way — and whether they'd recommend the north bank or the south for the time of year. Most will have their own favourite bench, and most will happily tell you about it.

Then do what locals do: pick a route, take it slowly, and let the water do the rest.