All walks › Brecon & the Usk Valley
Brecon & the Usk ValleyBrecon Canal Towpath
The Monmouthshire and Brecon canal starts here and runs level all the way to Pontypool. The first couple of miles out of Brecon are flat, surfaced and easy to turn round on.
- Distance
- 2.5 mi / 4 km
- Time
- 1 hr
- Ascent
- 5 m
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Shape
- There and back
Where it is
The circle shows the general area, not the exact start. Use the directions link below to get to the car park itself. Contours and paths shown are OpenTopoMap, drawn from OpenStreetMap data.
The route
From the basin behind the theatre, follow the towpath south-east with the water on one side. The canal keeps to a contour, so there is effectively no climbing. Return the way you came whenever you have had enough.
Worth knowing
- Genuinely wheelchair and pushchair friendly for the first two miles out of town.
- The Usk runs alongside for part of the way and the two waterways are only yards apart in places.
- Cyclists share the towpath. It is wide enough, but they come up quietly behind you.
What you’ll see
Narrowboats, the Usk alongside, and the Bannau rising to the south.
Background
Opened in stages around 1800 to carry lime, coal and iron down to Newport. It never joined the national canal network, which is part of why it survives so intact.