Watwick Bay

Watwick Bay is the beach that makes people gasp on the Dale peninsula circuit: a sheltered south-east-facing bay whose low-tide sand is broad, pale and usually near-empty, guarded by the huge white daymark of the Watwick beacon on the headland above. The shelter that made this coast a sailing haven makes the bay calm when the open coast is wild.

Access keeps it special: a twenty-five-minute walk along the Coast Path from Dale (or from the Mill Bay side), then an unmade path down — no car park, no facilities, carry in and carry out. The sand shrinks markedly towards high water, so aim for the falling tide. Combine it with St Ann's Head and Mill Bay for the full peninsula loop, one of the finest half-day walks in the county.