Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal

Our journey along the 35 mile long Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal took on a different pace from the previous three and a half months. This peaceful waterway was built as an industrial corridor for lime, limestone, timber, coal and iron. In its 19th century heyday, it was supported by horse-drawn tramroads that were used to bring raw materials from the hillsides.

Our canal boat was supposedly meant to travel along at 2 miles per hour however this was the average speed that we have been walking over the past few months and I can tell you that the boat was much slower than this! However, this made for a relaxing journey through the gorgeous countryside of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Our journey took us from the town of Brecon to just beyond Goytre Wharf with lots of lovely little villages and towns along the way. The canal included a number of locks, drawbridges and the 343 metre long Ashford Tunnel which we had to tackle along the way.

Here are some photos of our journey along the canal:

Greg at the tiller

Looking back along the boat

Bell Ear Bridge (Bridge 161)

Waiting for the lock to fill or empty

Coming through a drawbridge

Open Drawbridge

Waiting for the lock to empty

Exiting the lock

Travelling through the Ashford Tunnel

Crickhowell Bridge over the river Usk

The Bear Hotel in Crickhowell

Brecon Beacons countryside

Pen-Pedair Heol Marina

Only the parapets remain of bridge 108

Dan-y-Graig Bridge (Bridge 107)

St Elli's Church yard, Llanelly 

The village of Gilwern as viewed from St Elli's Churchyard, Llanelly

Old yew trees and graves in St Elli's Church yard, LLanelley

View of the valley from Llanelly

Cruising along the canal

Wharfinger’s Cottage at Llanfoist Wharf 

Views of the countryside

Govilon Wharf

We're hanging up our boots!

We've known for some time now that we would not be able to reach our objective of circumnavigating Wales, however we were still hopeful of being able to complete the Wales Coast Path.

Alas time has run out on us as we have have now started on our pre-booked canal boat trip through the Brecon Beacons. This will be directly followed by the four day Green Man music festival. 

While we still have some time after these two events before we have to fly back to New Zealand, there are some other parts of Wales that we would like to explore before leaving the country. As such, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue our walk around Wales......for now!

We would like to thank you all for your support and words of encouragement during our journey. In particular, special thanks to our managers at the Hurunui District Council and Waikmakariri District Council for granting us extended leave. Also a huge thank you to Nicola for looking after our animals and house while we have been away. Without you guys/gals our adventure would never have got off the ground.  

We have had a wonderful and often challenging time walking the coast and have loved our time in Wales. However, our adventure is not over yet. We will continue to post the remainder of our Wales experiences on this site. So stay tuned for the next part of our journey.....

.....we'll be back!

Day 77: Laugharne to St Clears

We had a late start to the day so that we could explore Laugharne Castle before continuing our journey to St Clears. Laugharne Castle was raised by the Normans in the early twelfth century to control the crossing over the River Taf. It was captured and burnt by Lord Rhys, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd but on each occasion was rebuilt. By the late sixteenth century, it was in the hands of Sir John Perrot who converted it into an Elizabethan mansion. It was destroyed during the Civil War and left in ruins never to be rebuilt.

Laugharne Caslte

Laugharne Castle

Gateway, Laugharne Castle

View over Taf Estuary from Laugharne Castle

The township of Laugharne

 From the castle we followed the path which headed down to The Dylan Thomas Boathouse. The poet lived here between 1949 and 1953 and the building, which once served as the Ferryman’s Inn, is now open as a museum.

Seaview - Former home of poet Dylan Thomas

The Boathouse, former home of Dylan Thomas

We continued along through a woodland which emerged on the estuary shore and took us through Delacorse Farm with its abundant kitchen garden and beautiful stone farmhouse.

Path through the woodland

Kitchen garden, Delacorse Farm

Farmhouse at Delacorse Farm

From here we followed a private lane to Brixtarw where we had stayed the previous week. The path continued down the lane and through another woodland, over a couple of streams to reach the Afon Taf again.

Private lane to Delacorse Farm

Brixtarw - we stayed in cream annex previous week

The path up to this point had been pleasant walking however from here it crossed a number of uneven fields which soon resulted in sore feet and ankles.

Walking through the fields

The path followed the road to St Clears

Crossing the Afon Taf we came into St Clears (a corruption of St Clare’s), a small linear town, which developed around its motte-and-bailey Norman castle. All that is left of the castle now is a very large weed covered mound of approximately 10-15 metres high.  

Remains of Motte & Bailey Castle at St Clears (photo courtesy of Google)

Lych gate, St Mary Magdalene Church, St Clears

Day 76: Amroth to Laugharne

Today marked the start of stage 7 of our journey around Wales – The Carmarthenshire Coast. Our day began in Amroth where the path followed the top of beach before climbing the headland and following the slope above Black Rock and round Telpyn Point.

The slopes above Black Rock

Telpyn Point

Telpyn Beach

From here our path descended into a forested valley, before climbing steeply around the hill fort of Top Castle as spectacular views of Marros Sands opened up before us.

Marros Sands

The path sidled across the side of Marros Beacon before zigzagging down towards Marros Mill. From here we traversed Ragwen Point which was apparently littered with ancient burial cairns and settlements however was covered in too much bracken and blackberry for us to make out anything. We did however pause for a bit to forage some blackberries for dessert.

The path along Marros Beacon

Bucolic landscape

The way dropped steeply down to the back of Morfa Bychan. This beach was used to practice for the D-Day landings and the concrete blocks were part of the defences used in this exercise.

Morfa Bychan

Concrete block defenses at Morfa Bychan

The path climbed steeply out of Morfa Bychan before eventually making its way round to  Dolwen Point where we zigzagging down some steep steps to reach the small seaside resort of Pendine. Pendine Sands stretched endlessly away towards the mouth of the Taf estuary, however only the first few metres of beach are publicly accessible as the rest forms part of a military range.

Pendine Sands

On our way down the steps to Pendine we met a lovely young man called Peter Mears. For those of you that think we are crazing for walking around Wales, this guy is a whole new level of crazy – he is walking the entire coastline of the UK mainland and sleeping outdoors as he goes all in with the aim of raising funds for three environmental charities: The National Trust, the RSPB and Renewable World.  fundraiser! So far, he has been walking for 15 months and completed nearly 1,500 miles of his journey. If you would like to sponsor his efforts you can do so using the sponsor page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/petermears1

Alternatively, you check out his progress both before and during the challenge at www.facebook.com/petes1challenge/https://www.facebook.com/petes1challenge/

Peter Mears on his UK coastline quest

From Pendine the path travelled inland around the military range until we reached the edge of a marsh near the Taf estuary. From here the path skirted the foot of the wooded slopes of Sir Johns Hill before joining the estuary shore of the Afon Taf where sections of Dylan Thomas’ poetry adorned the path. The poet lived in Laugharne during two periods and described it as ‘this timeless, beautiful, barmy town… a legendary lazy little black magical bedlam by the sea’.

The path through the fields near Plashett

Wooded slopes of Sir Johns Hill

Afon Taf estuary

Afon Taf estuary

The path travelled through a lovely woodland before the magnificently-sited Laugharne Castle greeted us. Laugharne Castle was established in the twelfth century on the Landsker Line, the division between Welsh and English speaking Wales. To the south and west of here is the ‘Little England Beyond Wales’ that was settled in the Middle Ages by a Flemish colony who became fiercely loyal to the English Crown and fought against Owain Glyndwr.

Woodland path

Laugharne Castle

We had no time to explore the castle as we were due to catch the bus back to our car, so leave you with this Thomas Dyaln quote.