Additional information
Terrain
- Coast path and easy tracks over agricultural land, short road section, many stiles
Landscape
- Rugged coastline, magnificent beach and sheltered harbour
Dog friendliness
- Care needed on cliff tops and near livestock
Parking
- Car park at West Angle Bay
Toilets en route
- West Angle Bay
About the walk
The narrow finger of land that juts out between Freshwater West and Angle Bay forms the eastern wall of the mouth of Milford Haven. On the northern edge of the peninsula, the waters are passive, lapping against a coastline that’s gentle and sloping, but as you round the headland, a radical... transformation takes place. Here, the cliffs stand tall and proud, defiantly resisting the full brunt of the considerable Atlantic swells. There are other differences too. While the views along the seaward coast are wild and unspoilt, the inner shores of the Haven reveal the smoking oil refinery chimneys that dominate the eastern skyline. The narrow-necked shape of the peninsula lends itself to a challenging circular walk that shows both sides of the coin. The outward leg, as far as the sweeping sands of Freshwater West, is about as tough as coast path walking gets; constantly dipping and climbing on narrow, often quite exposed, paths. The return leg is a little more civilised, tracking easily around the curve of Angle Bay and following field edges back out on to the headland. Milford Haven is the name of both a huge natural inlet, once described by Admiral Nelson as ‘the finest port in Christendom’, and the small town that nestles on its northern shores. Despite the obvious advantages of the sheltered waterways, the Haven saw only limited development until the 20th century. Although there is evidence of earlier settlements and shipping activity, the town, as it is now, and original dock, sprang up in the late 1700s to house a small whaling community that had fled from Nantucket, Massachusetts, during the American War of Independence. Despite interest from the military, which saw the potential for shipbuilding, lack of funding at the time prohibited serious expansion. Various enterprising ideas followed over the ensuing years, but by the end of the 19th century, the whaling had all but declined and the Navy had moved to nearby Pembroke Dock. Large-scale fishing in the rich waters of the Pembrokeshire coast threw the port a lifeline in the early 1900s and then, as this too declined, mainly due to over-fishing and the related smaller catches, energy production took over as the area’s main industry. There were once three refineries and a power station at the head of the Haven. One of the refineries has now closed and the original oil-fired power station was also closed after public pressure against its plan to burn a controversial fuel type. A LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) and Pembroke B, a gas-fired power station were both opened in the early years of the 21st century and both are currently the largest such facilities of their type, in Europe.
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