When I was trawling Google and Instagram for inspiration ahead of our visit to Pembrokeshire, Strumble Head was the first place I added to my list. With its majestic lighthouse and wild clifftops, I knew it was somewhere I wanted to go. We ended up visiting on a Thursday afternoon after a trip to the Blue Lagoon, and despite arriving at about 1 o’clock we still managed to park up with no trouble – there are a few free parking spaces by the lighthouse, and parking up here felt like we’d gone as far as we could without driving into the sea.
Most of the walks I found for Strumble Head were extremely long rambles which circumnavigate the entire headland, but we had already done lots of longer walks and by this point of the week our legs were flagging a bit! I therefore had a scroll through the routes plotted on OS maps and found a shorter route.
The route was a circular of just under 4 miles and we set off inland, following a quiet road and then a bridleway to eventually return to the coast path. The path gently undulates as it follows the sea, but isn’t strenuous in any way shape or form. Look out for semi-wild ponies who roam the headland for conservation grazing.
Given that there were plenty of cars parked up by the lighthouse, the walk was very quiet. We hardly saw anyone apart from a lone seal swimming off the coast as we walked back. Strumble Head is well known as a great place to spot marine life, in particular seals and porpoises (although sadly we didn’t see any of those). An old pill box by the lighthouse has been converted into an observation box where visitors can sit and gaze out to sea, with a bit of shelter from the wind.
There was a small shingly beach along the coast which was almost totally deserted – just one family and their dog enjoying a picnic. There were more people gathered by the lighthouse, but generally you can apply the rule that you won’t find many people once you get 200m from the parking area!
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. Leads are required for most of this walk – you may come across sheep, cows or ponies at any time. The beach is a great opportunity to let dogs have a good run off the lead and a paddle, but make sure you check for seals before letting them run wild – seals appear year round but you should be especially vigilant in late summer/early autumn during the pupping season. As an added bonus, there were a few streams along the way where the dogs were able to have a drink and a dip to cool down – which we haven’t found on many coastal walks.
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