All walks › Usk Valley and Abergavenny
Usk Valley and AbergavennyClydach Gorge
Steep wooded gorge packed with industrial remains, tramroads, limekilns and an ironworks, with the river running through the middle of it.
- Distance
- 3.7 mi / 6 km
- Time
- 2 hr 10
- Ascent
- 250 m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Shape
- Circular
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
One climb, and it comes at the start. Paths follow the gorge from the village past the ironworks and up onto the old tramroads, returning on the opposite side. Steep and stepped in places.
Worth knowing
- Part of the Blaenavon World Heritage Site. The industrial archaeology here is exceptional and largely unvisited.
- The gorge is steep-sided and the paths can be slippery; boots.
- The Heads of the Valleys road runs above on a viaduct, which is louder than the setting deserves.
What you’ll see
Ironworks ruins, tramroad inclines, limekilns, and hanging woodland over the river.
Background
Clydach ironworks operated from 1795 and the gorge was one of the most intensively industrialised valleys in Wales.