3.2 - DALE - MARLOES
A distance of about 6 miles .
From Dale - Pickleridge / follow the main road / passing Lime Kilns and remains of a Windmill on the hillside / to Dale - Public House , cafe .....here / a watersport centre / overlooking the sheltered waters of Dale Roads /
Then the main road , before joining a side road / with trees below - protected from the salt laden south westerlies / to the Dale Fort Field Centre , one of a number of fortifications built in 1850's .
Path Passes:-
3 tall navigation towers / beacons / above Watwick Bay .
West Blockhouse Fort (1857 ) , another Napoleonic Fort (Palmerston Follies) .
Now Landmark Trust , with gun emplacements above from World War 1 & 2 .
Then Mill Bay where Henry Tudor landed with 55 ships and 4,000men , from France on the 7thAugust 1485 / after 14 years in exile / marching into England / defeating Richard 3rd at the Battle of Bosworth / 22nd August.
Commemorative plaque near the path.
Round St Ann's Head / missing the headland . From mediaeval times St Ann's Head had a Fire Basket / Chapel / Hermitage for the monks who attended the fire .
Tudor chapel dedicated to St Ann .
Manx Shearwaters - the Seabirds with nocturnal habits - may be glimpsed / during the breeding season (may - sept) / near St Ann's Head and the coastal path to The Deer Park / thousands , low over the sea , in the evening and early morning , as they fly between their feeding areas and nesting sites on Skomer / Skokholm Islands .
Passing the 2 old lighthouses , one in use (1841) - range 18miles + a fog horn / a replacement for a coal fired light / the other now a Holiday home ( 1714 ) .
A short path leads to Cobblers Hole - showing dramatic folding and faulting in the red sandstone rock strata / path follows the rugged Western coastline of the Dale Penninsula , in contrast to the sheltered eastern side / passing Frenchman's Bay / Little Castle Point / Welshman's Bay / Long Point / Great Castle Head - Site of an Iron Age Fort / to Westdale Bay with a sandy beach / footpath from here across the penninsula to Dale / nearing Marloes and remains of the World War 2- Dale Airfield may be visible / on to Hoopers Point with views over Red Cliff To Marloes Beach .
Then on to the fantastic Marloes Sands .
Car Park :- Dale - Pickleridge , Dale - village , Kete - footpath to coast , Westdale - ( lane near beach) - SM 799.061 , Marloes ( near YH )- footpath to coast .
Bus - "Puffin Shuttle" , Dale , Marloes Village (Lobster Pot Inn),- bus continues to St Davids.