The walk from Newgale to Dinas Fawr is a tough but rewarding part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. It’s a fantastic day hike that offers a dramatic shift from wide-open coastal scenery to rugged, historic headlands. Proper planning is essential to ensure a safe and enjoyable journey.
Route and Difficulty
The walk follows the Pembrokeshire Coast Path north from Newgale beach towards Solva. Dinas Fawr is a prominent headland located just southeast of Solva. The route is around 3 1/2 miles one way and takes around 2 hours to complete, not including stops, so plan for a whole afternoon to go out and back. This is a fairly hard walk with a lot of climbs and descents, while this makes it tougher the views really make up for it.
Navigating the Walk
The walk begins at Newgale Beach, famous for its two-mile plus stretch of banked pebble sea defence and sand. From the northern end of the beach, the Pembrokeshire Coast Path sign will direct you to climb a steep path away from the coast. The trail will take you over a series of headlands, including Dinas Fach before you reach the final climb to Dinas Fawr. Once you crest the final hill, you’ll be on the “Great Fort” itself. It has sweeping views over St Brides Bay and the surrounding countryside. From Dinas Fawr, you can either retrace your steps back to Newgale or continue on for another mile or so on to Solva, where you can find pubs and cafes before catching a bus back to Newgale if you need to collect your car.
About Dinas Fawr
Dinas Fawr’s name, “Great Fort,” hints at former grandeur. However, today it is little more than crumbling earthworks and a scatter of stones remain of this once-mighty stronghold.
The exact origins of Dinas Fawr are unknown, but archaeological evidence suggests it was a site of strategic importance for millennia. Its earliest inhabitants may have been Iron Age tribes, who recognized the defensive advantages of the steep-sided hill. Later, the Romans may have utilized the location as a lookout or signal station, a small part of their vast network of imperial control. However, it was during the Dark Ages that Dinas Fawr truly came into its own as a stronghold for waring tribes as a highly defendable position from land and sea. Towards the end of the Dark Ages, when threats came more from the east and the English, Dinas Fawr’s importance waned and it eventually faded into history.
What made the site perfect as a stronghold back then also makes it perfect as a viewpoint today.
