The Dale Peninsula and St Ann's Head

Dale sits on a sheltered anchorage and claims to be the sunniest place in Wales, which is the sort of claim best enjoyed rather than checked.

Walk south from the seafront past Dale Fort, one of the Victorian forts built to defend the Milford Haven waterway and now a field studies centre. The path continues round the eastern side of the peninsula, past a string of small bays — Castlebeach, Watwick, and then Mill Bay.

Mill Bay deserves a pause. On 7 August 1485, Henry Tudor landed here with about 2,000 men after fourteen years of exile, and marched to Bosworth. Two weeks later he was king. There's a small plaque and nothing else, which feels about right.

Round the tip at St Ann's Head, where the lighthouse and coastguard cottages sit above the mouth of the waterway. Every tanker heading for the refineries passes below you. On the western side the sea is open Atlantic and the cliffs take the full weather.

Come back along the western shore over Westdale Bay, a wide sandy beach that looks inviting and is genuinely dangerous to swim at, then take the short field path across the neck of the peninsula back into Dale.

Where to finish. The Griffin Inn is on the water at Dale and does crab and lobster from the bay. It's a five-minute walk from the finish.

Shorter option. Dale to Westdale Bay and back across the neck is about 2 miles and takes under an hour.