Whitesands Bay to Solva

This is the full circuit of the St Davids peninsula, and although it can be split into halves at Porth Clais or Caerfai, doing it in one is one of the best days on the whole path.

Leave Whitesands heading south past Porthselau and round Point St John to St Justinian's, where the lifeboat station sits on the edge of Ramsey Sound and the boats for Ramsey Island leave. Look across at the line of rocks running out from the island: that's the Bitches, and the tide pours through the gap at up to six knots, standing up in visible waves. Ramsey itself is an RSPB reserve with the largest grey seal breeding colony in southern Britain — several hundred pups born in the coves each autumn.

South of St Justinian's the path rounds Pen Dal-aderyn, the true south-western corner, and turns east into a series of small, steep coves: Porthlysgi, where the shingle is worth an hour on a warm day, then Porth Clais.

Porth Clais is a narrow tidal inlet with a stone quay and a row of restored lime kilns — this was St Davids' port, taking in coal and limestone and shipping out corn. There's a National Trust car park, and in summer usually an ice cream van. It's the natural halfway point.

From here to Caerfai the path is straightforward and busy, because both bays are within walking distance of the city. Caerfai has a car park, a beach and a campsite above it. Just east is Caer Bwdy, where the distinctive purple-grey sandstone for St Davids Cathedral was quarried straight off the shore and carried round by boat; stone from the same place was used in the modern restoration work.

The last four miles are the sting. The path climbs and drops repeatedly through Nine Wells and over the headlands to Solva, and by then you've done nine miles already. The arrival is good compensation: Solva is a drowned glacial valley, the harbour bending out of sight of open water, with a green hill on each side and boats sitting on the mud at low tide.

Where to finish. Solva has pubs and cafés along the lower village, all within two minutes of the harbour car park.

Splitting it. Whitesands to Porth Clais is about six miles and much the gentler half. Porth Clais to Solva is seven harder ones.