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Start in Market Square, where a great tapestry tells the story of the last invasion of Britain. A French force landed near here in 1797 and held out for two days. Then walk down the hill to the old quay and back along the path above it.

This is the north coast of the county, wilder and far quieter than the south. The cliffs on either side of the town are the best of the walking, and the Coast Path runs straight through, out to Strumble Head one way and Newport the other.

On the evening of the 22nd of February 1797 about fourteen hundred French troops came ashore at Carregwastad Point, three miles west of here. It is the most recent landing on British soil by a hostile foreign force, and it lasted two days.

They were not the pick of the French army. Six hundred were regulars; the other eight hundred were deserters, convicts and prisoners, and the whole force was known as the Black Legion. Their commander was an Irish-American called William Tate. They had not meant to come here at all, but the weather put them in Pembrokeshire when the target was Bristol.

The terms of surrender were signed on the 23rd at the Royal Oak in Market Square, which is still there and still has the table. The French laid down their arms on Goodwick Sands at about two the following afternoon.

The town’s own hero is Jemima Nicholas, known as Jemima Fawr, Jemima the Great. She was baptised in 1755 and died in 1832, so she was about seventy-seven, and she is buried at St Mary’s, the parish church on Main Street. A memorial stone was put up for her there in 1897 by public subscription.

Local tradition has it that she rounded up twelve French soldiers single-handed with a pitchfork. There is no written record of it from the time, so it is tradition rather than fact, but the town has believed it for two centuries.

The whole affair is worked into a hundred feet of embroidery. The Last Invasion Tapestry was stitched by about seventy-eight local people over four years for the bicentenary in 1997. It hangs in the Tapestry Gallery at Fishguard Town Hall in Market Square, for a small charge.

Lower Town is still a working quay rather than a promenade, and the long-distance path runs right past it. That is why Fishguard suits walkers better than it suits bucket-and-spade holidays.

Because the town’s one large hotel has been closed for years, Fishguard is a guest-house town by default. Most of its beds are in small places run by the people who live in them, which is worth knowing before you go looking for a lift and a lobby.

It is also a festival town, and the dates are published a long way ahead. Aberjazz, the jazz and blues weekend, reaches its twenty-third year from 27 to 31 August 2026, taking over the town for five days across the bank holiday.

The folk festival runs over the late May bank holiday, mostly free between St Mary’s church and Theatr Gwaun, and has already announced 28 to 31 May 2027. Rooms for both go early.

One thing a guest without a car can do here that they cannot do in most of Wales is reach another country before dinner. The ferry to Rosslare takes foot passengers, and the harbour station sits at the terminal, so you can arrive by train and leave by boat.