Having reached Newport station on the main line from Cardiff to London Paddington, I walked uphill to Newport's St Woolos Cathedral, then down into Belle Vue Park. The Victorians who developed towns such as Cardiff and Newport to transport coal by sea, recognised the value of public spaces and Belle Vue is a good example of the formal gardens created complete with bandstand (and more recently a coffee shop). After a section of road I reached the Sirhowy Valley walk and followed it to where I thought it started at Tredegar House. Tredegar House dates from the 17th century and with its associated park and cafe is worth a visit. However the waymarking indicated that the Sirhowy Valley walk no longer started from the house, as indicated by my Ordnance Survey map and other publications, so after using the toilets I followed the signposts south.
The signs took me through housing and joined the Wales Coast path before crossing the railway line on a temporary bridge. In order to electrify the main line, the existing bridge is having to be raised in height. Then the path crosses the Gwent levels; a large area of flat land separated from the River Severn by a bank of earth that stretches along the length of the river to protect the area from flooding. It is an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Various birds use the flat fields and drainage channels, plus the mudflats the other side of the sea defences. I saw swans and geese in the fields and a heron in a drainage ditch. I could see back to the historic Newport Transporter bridge, the docks and the power stations on the opposite side of the River Usk, with its muddy banks. Signs indicated that the landscape would soon be changed by the new section of the M4 that would go south of Newport. This will greatly help those currently having to wait in queues on the existing M4 at certain times of day, but it will dramatically change the landscape in this area. The path follows the bank separating fields from mud flats to the West Usk Lighthose, built 1821, and now a somewhat unusual Bed & Breakfast. Waymarking continued at least as far as the Lighthouse Inn, which I decided was far enough.
After a coffee at the Shipwreck cafe, I headed back the same way until I reached the housing estate by Tredegar house. It attracted my attention due to the unusual octagonal arrangement of the terraced housing, which allowed access by cars to one side of the housing, while the other side opened onto grass or was car-free. Sadly the grassy area in the middle of the development, with its stand of pine trees, was blighted by litter rather spoiling the beauty of the architect's vision.
I continued along the Sirhowy Valley walk through housing to a hill, now a rusty colour with dead bracken, but with yellow celandines in patches. This was the site of a hill fort, with the banks and ditches still discernible.
After crossing a road and more housing the rain started and another park followed, leading up another ridge to the northern suburbs of Newport. From here the path dropped through very muddy fields to the Monmouth and Brecon canal (now disused). After walking through the tunnel under the M4 motorway I counted my way up the 14 locks to the 14 lock visitor centre for coffee and a lovely slice of Angel cake (its a different type of cake each time I visit) giving the rain time to stop.
The Sirhowy Valley walk leaves the canal a kilometre or so after the visitor centre and crosses the Ebbw valley through housing and a "Welfare" park, then climbs the side of the valley opposite, initially on roads and then through trees and fields, climbing steadily up the ridge. Eventually you reach the bracken covered mountain of Mynydd Machen. An excellent viewpoint to look back at Newport or forward to the old slag heap further along the ridge. The slag heap was left by the now defunct coal mining, destroyed in the 1980s, and now considered an old and polluting source of energy. In the distance you can see a solar farm, with the sun providing a new source of energy from the fields of South Wales.
Just short of the slag heap it was time for me to head for home, so I headed downhill along what my Ordnance survey map showed as footpath through Gelli-Finiog farm to the roundabout on the A467. I should have been suspicious at the lack of footpath signs through the farm, and beyond the aerial below no path seemed to be heading through the trees in the right direction (i.e. down a rather steep slope). This lead to me taking a rather lengthy route into the Sirhowy Valley Country park and into the town of Crosskeys. However, at the station I had the good fortune to arrive only a few minutes before the train; five minutes later and I would have had to wait an hour for the next one.
I will continue the trail in my next blog, but based on today's experience in future I will start following the Sirhowy Valley walk from Tredegar house. The banks of the Severn and the Gwent Levels make an interesting walk, but are best and most conveniently explored by following the Wales Coast path from Newport to Cardiff (or vice versa), especially if using the train.
The gpx file of the route I followed is available on wikiloc.com, and on ViewRanger, from where you can download it onto your mobile phone.
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