St Davids Coastal Hike, Pembrokeshire (6.6 km)

St Davids sits less than three kilometres from the sea in the far west of Wales. This 6.6 km circuit starts at Whitesands Beach, joins the Pembrokeshire Coast Path at the south side of the sand, follows the cliffs down to the lifeboat station at St Justinian’s above Ramsey Sound, then cuts back inland across the fields. As Pembrokeshire hiking goes it is a short day, and St Davids has crammed a lot into it. Other Welsh coastal days on this site include Holyhead on Anglesey and the Great Orme walk at Llandudno.

The St Davids coast circuit

Half of it is the Pembrokeshire Coast Path and half is farm track, and on this corner of the St Davids peninsula the two feel like different days.

• Start and finish: Whitesands Beach, at the car park behind the sand
• Distance: about 6.6 km (4.1 miles)
• Ascent: roughly 240 m, none of it in one piece
• Terrain: unguarded cliff path with repeated dips into coves, then farm paths and a short stretch of minor road

Cliffs, coves and Ramsey Sound

Nothing on this circuit reaches 45 metres above the water, which sounds gentle until you work out where 240 metres of ascent comes from: the path drops into every cove and climbs straight back out again. Porthselau comes early, and at low water you can reach it along the sand rather than over the headland — read up on the tides and currents on that stretch first.

The path turns above Ramsey Sound, the channel between Ramsey Island and the mainland. The National Park’s own survey clocks the tide through here at under six knots and calls it treacherous — the reef reaching out from the island is The Bitches, and it works the ebb into the white water that kayakers come here for. Porpoises and seals use the same water. The island is an RSPB reserve you can only set foot on by booked boat, and those boats leave from the lifeboat station you are about to walk past.

St Justinian’s and the turn inland

The far point is St Justinian’s, where the St Davids lifeboat sits at the head of a slipway that drops off the cliff at an angle that looks wrong until you picture a boat using it. The ruin above the station is St Justinian’s chapel, a place of pilgrimage for medieval travellers.

From there the route leaves the coast for farm paths, with a short stretch of tarmac near the end. It is wet and muddy inland from Porthselau. The return runs back towards the bay with Carn Llidi, the volcanic tor on its north side, standing over the finish.

Getting there from St Davids

The car park behind the beach is pay-and-display and overcrowds in summer, with St Davids under three kilometres back inland. Without a car, the Celtic Coaster 403 runs between St Davids and St Justinian’s through the summer season and works as hail-and-ride, so it will pick you up anywhere it is safe to stop.

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path was the first National Trail in Wales and is well waymarked, so there is nothing to work out — keep the sea on your right going out. The cliff edge near St Justinian’s is unguarded and eroding, and the standing advice there is to keep off the overhangs.

One last thing at the finish. Under the sand at the top of the beach is an early medieval burial ground, torn open by the storms of 2014, with the remains of St Patrick’s Chapel sitting on the graves. The graves are centuries older than the chapel put up over them, and you would walk across it without knowing.

References

• St Justinian and Porthselau circular walk
• Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Whitesands to Solva section
• Pembrokeshire Coast National Park seascape assessment for Ramsey Sound (PDF)
• Pembrokeshire Coast National Park seascape assessment for Whitesands Bay (PDF)
• Excavations at St Patrick’s Chapel, archaeology notes
• RSPB Ramsey Island nature reserve
• National Trails guide to the Pembrokeshire Coast Path
• Pembrokeshire County Council coastal bus timetables
• National Trust guide to the St Davids Head coastal walk