Wednesday 6 March 2019

Sirhowy Valley - Overview

The Sirhowy Valley walk goes from the banks of the River Severn Estuary up to the Nye Bevan memorial stones between Tredegar and Ebbw Vale Town. It covers a very wide range of landscapes from the flatlands around the River Severn, to a hillfort and an old canal near Newport, to mountains and ridges with distant views and skylarks singing, to the sides of valleys lined with trees. Reminders of the now long lost coal and steel industry are now subtle as nature reclaims slag heaps and the towns filling the valleys feel more like commuter towns for the cities of Newport and Cardiff.

I walked the Sirhowy Valley Walk over two days, using trains to get me to and from the trail each day, details are given in the two posts below. The days were long, I covered 71 kms in all including two and from train stations, however it can easily be shortened by starting at Tredegar House or covered in three days.

Day one - Newport to Cross keys

Day two - Crosskeys to Ebbw Vale

Also included is a recent day hike around the Raven Walk which crosses the Sirhowy valley, at some 20 kilometres and a 1000 metres of ascent it is a good way to stretch ones legs among the hills and valleys of the area.

Raven Walk


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