Milford Haven to Pembroke

A stage of engineering rather than geology. From Milford the path works east along the shore to Neyland, which exists because Isambard Kingdom Brunel chose it in 1856 as the Atlantic terminus of the South Wales Railway — for a few years steamers left this modest creek for Ireland and America. The railway is long gone, but the marina fills the creek, a statue of Brunel surveys it, and the town wears the history well — the Brunel Trail cycle route north to Haverfordwest follows his old line.

Then comes the crossing every thru-walker remembers: the Cleddau Bridge, high over the waterway with the whole harbour laid out beneath — tankers below your boots, Pembroke Dock ahead, and on a clear day St Ann's Head at the sea end of it all. Tolls were abolished in 2018; walkers always went free.

Pembroke Dock deserves more than the pass-through it usually gets. This was a Royal Navy dockyard from 1814 to 1926 — over 250 ships launched, five royal yachts among them — and in the Second World War it was the world's largest flying-boat station, home to the Sunderlands that fought the Battle of the Atlantic. The heritage centre in the old chapel tells it properly.

The final miles follow the Pembroke River up to Pembroke itself, arriving along the Mill Pond with the castle growing above the water — the birthplace of Henry VII in 1457, and one of the great medieval fortresses of Britain. Finishing a day's walk underneath it is one of the path's quiet rewards.