All walks › Newport and the Gwent Levels
Newport and the Gwent LevelsNewport Riverfront and the Transporter Bridge
Along the Usk through the city, past one of only a handful of working transporter bridges left in the world.
- Distance
- 3.7 mi / 6 km
- Time
- 1 hr 55
- Ascent
- 30 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
The riverside path runs from the transporter bridge north through the city past the castle and the footbridge. Flat and surfaced.
Worth knowing
- The transporter bridge carries a gondola across the river rather than a deck, because the banks are too low for a fixed span.
- The Usk has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world; the mud at low water is startling.
- The Newport ship, a fifteenth-century merchant vessel found in the riverbank, is being conserved nearby.
What you’ll see
The transporter bridge, the tidal Usk, the castle ruins and the city footbridge.
Background
The transporter bridge opened in 1906. Only a few working examples survive worldwide and this is among the largest.