This walk combines harbour scenery, an historical fort, trails above secluded coves and some magnificent cliff-top views.  

Goodwick to Fishguard Lower Town

The walk begins at Goodwick, near to the entrance to the ferry port. A wide pavement runs along the shingle beach with views across the bay to Dinas Head.

The path leads uphill to Marine Walk, a surfaced easy path offering fine views over Goodwick harbour and Fishguard Bay.

The path follows around the headland and leads down to the picturesque setting of Fishguard Lower Town. The old harbour warehouse hints at a once bustling harbour, but is now used as a sea cadet training centre and a dry yard for sailing boats.

Crossing the old stone bridge over the River Gwaun leads to the old quayside. The place is full of character with quaint pastel colour washed cottages, old stone walls and boats moored in the harbour.

Nearby is another art sculpture ‘The Herring’. A copper shoal of herring fish are mounted on a Pembrokeshire Bluestone, a nod to the town’s fishing fleets and industry of bygone days.

The harbour was used as the setting for the 1971 film adaptation of the Dylan Thomas classic, Under Milk Wood, starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. It’s rumoured they enjoyed the local hospitality in the pubs a little too enthusiastically and the months of filming must have made for some great times here.

Towards the end of the quayside are a couple of nice cafes, so we took the opportunity for some refreshments here before rejoining the coast path.

Fishguard Fort

Leaving Lower Town, the path climbs steadily out of the harbour on a pavement along a busy road. At the top of the hill is a car park and access to Fishguard Fort at Castle Point. We had an amble around the old fort, reading the information panels on its history.

After the harbour was raided in 1779 by The Black Prince, a notorious privateer ship, the townsfolk raised funds for a fort to be constructed on this imposing location to defend the town. In 1797 it played a part in the defence of Fishguard when the cannons fired warning shots at the French invasion force, forcing them to land further westwards.

Coast path to Pwllgwaelod

From the fort the coast path continues on grassy trails across heather and gorse covered cliff tops. There are quite a few climbs and descents, some woodland trails and returning to high ground for sweeping views of sea cliffs and rocky coves.

A prominent natural feature on this section of coastline is Needle Rock, an unusual stack rock with a sea arch.

The best view of the stack rock is from the North so after passing some distance to a vantage point, we turned to take a photograph.

At that moment a squally shower hit the coast, the mist and rain giving the jagged, dark grey cliffs and Needle Rock a foreboding, otherworldly presence.

The path passes through a holiday park but soon emerges back onto clifftops with splendid views of the rugged coast near Penrhyn Erw-Goch.

After crossing the small beach of Aber Bach there’s a steep climb back to the cliff tops and after crossing another small beach, a final descent to Pwllgwaelod.

Pwllgwaelod is a sheltered cove with a pebble and sand beach, framed by slate grey cliffs and rolling countryside hills. Nearby is The Old Sailors, a small pub dating back to 1593 and originally named The Sailors Safety. For centuries it kept oil lamps burning through the night as a guide to passing ships.

After taking the photo above, we briefly bumped into Rhod Gilbert, the TV and radio presenter who has battled cancer in recent years. After exchanging greetings and small talk we went on our way. It was good to see him looking well and out and about on the Pembrokeshire coast.

This walk was 7.27 miles on the coast path, but to complete our walk we continued uphill along the lanes leading to Dinas Cross, just under a mile distance, to catch the T5 bus to return to Fishguard.

Route Summary

Thanks for reading. Join us again for another Short Walk on a Long Path.