Walking the Wales Coast Path - Pembrokeshire - Dale to Milford Haven
Today I walked another 10 miles of the Pembrokeshire coastal path, from Dale to Milford Haven. I parked the car in Milford Haven and booked a Fflecsi bus to take me to Dale to start my walk.
Dale beach.
I had to time the walk well today as there were two bridges that could only be crossed at low tide, and they are about 5 miles apart. The first one at Dale is accessible 3 hours either side of low tide. So with a 1pm low tide today, I was crossing that at 10.30am. This gave me plenty of time to get to Sandy Haven, where the new bridge that has replaced the stepping stones, is accessible until 3 hours before high tide. The high tide alternative route adds quite a lot of miles onto this walk, so definitely worth doing some tide maths before you do this section.
The first tidal crossing at The Garn, Dale.
The first tidal crossing at The Garn, Dale.
The crossing at Sandy Haven…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this section, as the area around Milford Haven is quite industrial, and you pass by an oil refinary at one point. However, the first stretch from Dale to Sandy Haven was absolutely stunning, and was full of tiny coves and secluded beaches, and was as pretty as any other part of the Pembrokeshire coastal path I’ve explored so far.
After last week’s walk from Pembroke Dock to Angle, and the incident with the cows, I was also quite nervous ahead of today’s walk. But thankfully there were no cows to be seen, and all of the farmland was safely fenced off from the coastal path.
Once past Sandy Haven, I was expecting the oil refinary section to be quite ugly, but it was actually really hard to even see it for most of the walk. It is well hidden by the landscape, and the path mostly shows you more coast and the industry of Milford Haven in the distance doesn’t look too bad.
Once round at Gelliswick bay the path became road and it was a long remaining mile through the houses back to my car in Milford Haven marina. However, overall it was a beautiful walk and a surprisingly pleasant section of the coastal path.
I just have 3 more walks, and just 30 miles, of the Pembrokeshire section remaining. I am so excited to complete it, but will also be quite sad once it is over, as the coastline of Pembrokshire has to be one of the most beautiful in the world.
My Pembrokeshire map to date.
