Fishguard is a small harbour town on the north Pembrokeshire coast, best known to most travellers as the ferry port for sailings to Rosslare in Ireland. But it is more interesting than its gateway-town reputation suggests. The town occupies two distinct levels: the main commercial street runs along the top of the cliffs, while Lower Fishguard — a cluster of fishermen's cottages around the old harbour — sits below, quiet enough now that it doubled as Llareggub in the 1971 film of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood.
Fishguard has a genuine claim to historical curiosity as the site of the Last Invasion of Britain. In February 1797, a French force of around 1,400 men landed at nearby Carreg Wastad Point with the intention of sparking a popular uprising. The expedition lasted four days before the troops surrendered, reportedly deterred in part by the sight of local women in red cloaks and tall hats — mistaken, the story goes, for British soldiers. The Last Invasion Tapestry commemorating the event, made in 1997, hangs in the town hall.
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs through here, and the headlands to the east toward Newport offer good walking. Strumble Head to the northwest is excellent for spotting harbour porpoises and grey seals. Inland, the wooded Gwaun Valley and the ancient dolmen of Pentre Ifan on the Preseli Hills are within easy reach.