Over a short distance, canal walking is generally easy and often enchanting, opening a window on a gentler way of life – a throwback to another time. The problem with it only really arises if you follow a canal towpath over longer distances, as we did when we walked the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal from Abergavenny to Brecon. There’s a danger it can become samey. To help avoid this, it’s worth paying attention to all the little attractions that exist along the way.

Abergavenny to Crickhowell

Getting to the canal from Abergavenny involves a wander through Castle Meadows, an open meadow beside the River Usk, and across the Llanfoist Bridge, which is technically two bridges built four hundred years apart. Dominating the scene is Blorenge, a table-topped hill 561m high.

Between the bridge and the canal towpath is the Llanfoist Crossing section of the Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny tramway, one of a network of horse-drawn tramways used to transport the iron ore, limestone, and coal in the 19th century. Although now a green and tranquil setting, information boards reveal a bustling, more industrious past. It’s about 3.5km before the path links up with the canal on the outskirts of Govilon, once a busy junction consisting of the canal and two tramroads, something that’s difficult to envisage now.

From Govilon, it’s classic canal walking – mature trees with branches which spread across the canal and provide welcome shade on sunny days, barges and other craft chugging lazily along the waterway, a series of low, arched bridges to pass under. It’s easy walking; the relaxed pace of modern life on the canal contrasting sharply with the scenes of backbreaking toil depicted on the numerous info boards along the way. These boards are useful for explaining about innovations such as the lift bridges which allowed barges laden with cargo to pass, or for pointing out kilns at Llannelly Wharf where limestone quarried from the surrounding hills was burnt to create quicklime. In places, the path detours briefly, occasionally crossing the canal, sometimes via ancient stone slab stiles which have allowed people to pass but not livestock since the 13th century.

We left the towpath just before Llangattock to drop into Crickhowell to stay at The Bear Hotel, whose friendly ambience we particularly enjoy and whose pub restaurant serves excellent Welsh faggots.

Crickhowell to Brecon

The first significant ‘attraction’ after leaving Crickhowell is Llangynidr Locks where a series of five locks raise barges about fifty-five feet, the most significant difference in levels across the whole of the navigable parts of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. It’s a picturesque spot to pass some time watching the whole process as barges pass through each of the locks.

To break up the route, we detoured from the canal to climb to see the Talybont Turbine at the reservoir of the same name. It’s a scenic area, with the valve tower jutting out into the reservoir making for an interesting curio. Some of the route back to the canal took us along the Brinor Tramroad, built to transport limestone and coal, before we rejoined the towpath at Talybont-on-Usk where there are two inns, The White Hart and The Star, conveniently beside the canal. There are more choices of canal-side pubs on the Crickhowell to Brecon stretch than on the section from Abergavenny.

The towpath from Talybont-on-Usk onward is a delightful combination of bucolic pastural lands, where the scenery opens up to give views across the countryside, and wilder, forested sections where kayaks and swans join the barges on the water. Water crosses water at the Brynich Aqueduct when the canal spans the River Usk shortly before reaching the outskirts of Brecon at Brynich Lock. It’s nearly as pretty a setting as Llangynidr. There are a lot of little curios to look out for along the stretch between the lock and the Brecon Basin, where the canal ends. The overgrown Watton Limekilns are one. Then there are the wooden carvings of horse-drawn carts which also teach a few words of Welsh, and chunky benches with a map of the canal’s route carved into them.

End of the route

The canal ends at the Brecon Basin, a charming quay with a row of cottages on one side and the Brycheiniog Theatre on the other. It’s the prefect spot to get some refreshments and grab a seat beside the basin to watch barges setting off along the route you’ve just followed.
Some may get bored with canal strolling, but regularly being informed of the past life of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal stoked our imagination, bringing the past alive while keeping us interested and engaged throughout. Plus, this is the Brecon Beacons (Bannau Brycheiniog) – it’s gorgeous Welsh countryside. If anyone gets bored with that, maybe walking isn’t really their thing.

The route involved around 36km of canal walking spread over two days.