The Marloes peninsula in one day: Musselwick Sands, the Skomer boats at Martin's Haven, the mile of Marloes Sands, then round St Ann's Head past the beach where Henry Tudor landed in 1485.
This stage packs more incident per mile than anywhere south of St Davids. From the quiet cove and Norman church at St Brides Haven the path runs west above Musselwick Sands — a superb sandy beach at low water and literally no beach at all at high, which is worth knowing before you scramble down to it.
Martin's Haven is next: the pebble cove where the Skomer boats load, with the Deer Park headland beyond it — no deer, magnificent views of the island and, in summer, puffins fishing in the sound below. Around the corner the path opens onto the full sweep of Marloes Sands, close to a mile of it, with Gateholm Island at the far end (an Iron Age settlement site you can reach at low tide, and be trapped on carelessly) and the famous Three Chimneys — three beds of rock folded to vertical, standing out of the beach like flues.
The peninsula then narrows past Westdale Bay and turns down to St Ann's Head, where the lighthouse and coastguard cottages watch the entrance to the Milford Haven waterway. It was here in 1996 that the Sea Empress grounded, and here — at little Mill Bay, tucked under the head — that Henry Tudor came ashore on 7 August 1485 with two thousand men, fourteen days before Bosworth made him Henry VII. The most consequential beach landing in British history happened on a cove most people walk past without noticing.
The last two miles swing round the sheltered eastern side into Dale, a village that lives for sailing and watersports, with a pub, a pontoon café in season and, mercifully, buses.
Nearest forecast point: St Brides Bay
dry for the next few hours, around 12°C, breezy, gusts near 24 mph.
01:00
12°
Fair
W 24 mph
02:00
12°
Clear
W 24 mph
03:00
12°
Clear
NW 24 mph
04:00
12°
Clear
NW 24 mph
05:00
12°
Fair
NW 23 mph
06:00
12°
Clear
NW 22 mph
07:00
12°
Clear
NW 22 mph
08:00
12°
Clear
NW 23 mph
Forecast from MET Norway, used under CC BY 4.0. It's a forecast for the nearest of six points across the county, not for this exact spot — on a coast this shaped, one headland can be in sun and the next in rain.
The light goes gold from about 17:57.
Calculated for these coordinates, accurate to a minute or so. A cliff or a headland to your west will take the sun sooner than this suggests.
Martin's Haven · about 3 miles away
Low water
01:00
Sat 10 Oct · 0.8m
High water
06:52
Sat 10 Oct · 6.2m
Low water
13:12
Sat 10 Oct · 0.8m
High water
19:09
Sat 10 Oct · 6.4m
Predicted times from the UK Hydrographic Office. Wind and pressure shift real water levels, and the tide at a specific cove can run earlier or later than its port. Never plan a tidal crossing on this alone.
Musselwick Sands is a genuine tide trap — the beach disappears completely at high water and cuts off fast, so treat it as a low-tide detour only. The St Ann's Head section is exposed to whatever the Atlantic is doing. Marloes Sands has no lifeguards; the pull at the west end is stronger than it looks.
The nearest pubs, cafés and restaurants to the start and finish. Check hours before you count on one.
Dale, SA62 3RB
Three-hundred-year-old pub on Dale's sea wall at the mouth of the Haven — lobster from pots in the bay, Bluestone ales and its own amber beer, and the last pub standing of a village that once had fifteen.
200m away · about 5 min walk
250m away · about 5 min walk
Hand-picked places to stay within about 2 miles, nearest first. Our picks are data-driven — we haven’t stayed — and we earn a commission when you book through a partner link. How that works.
Marloes · Sleeps 12 · 6 beds
Bookable via cottages.com
Marloes · Sleeps 6 · 3 beds
Bookable via cottages.com
Marloes · Sleeps 4 · 2 beds
Bookable via holidaycottages.co.uk
OpenStreetMap
A GPX track for this stage, traced from the Coast Path as mapped on OpenStreetMap — 13.6 miles of it. Load it into a watch, a phone app or a handheld GPS.
© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL. Traced from the mapped route, not a recorded walk, so treat it as a guide and not a substitute for a map and compass — and check tide and firing times before you set out. Route data checked 2026-10-09.
No reports yet — walked St Brides Haven to Dale? Tell people how it went: conditions, parking, how long it really took.
Round the tip of the peninsula from one of Wales's best beaches to the boat slip for Skomer, with seals in the coves below.
6 miles · 3–4 hours · Moderate
A gentle stage along the north shore of the Haven with two tidal stepping-stone crossings that will add four miles to your day if you get them wrong.
7 miles · 3½–4 hours · Moderate
A full-day circuit of the peninsula that guards the mouth of the Milford Haven waterway, past a lighthouse, three forts and the beach where Henry Tudor landed.
8 miles · 4–5 hours · Moderate
Distances and times are approximate. Conditions on the Coast Path change with the weather and the season — take a map, and check tide times and firing times where they apply.