Length: 17.9 km (11.1 mi), with options to shortenAscent/Descent:
368/644m
Net
Walking Time: 4 ½ hour
Toughness:
4 out of 10
Take
the 14.31
(Line 3 from Stand 2 at Abergavenny Bus Station, also calls Pavilion, Brecon
Road Surgery & Nevill Hall Hospital) to Brynmawr Bus Station,
arrives 15.21.
The
Clydach, a short and fast river on the boundary of the Brecon Beacons National
Park, flows off the southern slopes of the Mynydd Llangatwg through a wooded
valley to the Usk River. For about 3 km the valley forms the Clydach Gorge/Cwm
Clydach, containing waterfalls, cascades, fast-flowing waters and a few caves
as well as some ancient beechwoods. The gorge is not only little-visited, but –
despite the presence of the A465 Heads of the Valleys dual-carriageway, which
also travels along the valley – also wild, dramatic and unspoilt.
The valley was a centre of early industry and remnants of limestone quarries,
mines, an ironworks and several tramroad inclines are either passed or walked
along, while a dismantled railway line provides an airy high-level walk route
in the upper valley.
The steepness of the terrain and the narrow rock walls prevent a continuous
path along the gorge, but three out-and-backs along good paths into the gorge,
to waterfalls or caves, are described.
In the Lower Clydach Valley, you follow the rushing river closely through
woods, then leave the Clydach to follow the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
for a while, before heading to Abergavenny through lush pastures with views
across the Usk Valley to the Black Mountains.
Walk
Options
|
A
finish at Abergavenny Bus Station cuts 750m distance, and 30m ascent.
The
three out-and-back routes into the Clydach Gorge can be omitted, they are (from
west to east):
· Upper Clydach Falls and Ogof Clogwyn, 580m distance, 40m ascent;
· Devil’s Bridge and Pwll-y-Cwn, 540m distance, 70m ascent;
· Lower Clydach Falls, from 600m to 960m distance, negligible ascent.
Bus
Lines 3 (Abergavenny
– Brynmawr, Mon-Sat, 4 buses a day) and X4 (Merthyr Tydfil –
Abergavenny, Mon-Sat, hourly) travel along the Clydach Valley, calling
on the A465 outside Clydach, in Clydach (not the X4), Gilwern and Govilon,
enabling shorter versions of the route.
|
Tea: 5
pubs en route (some
of those may be closed due to Covid though), and plenty
of places in Abergavenny’s Town Centre. See
the walk directions pdf for details.
For
walk directions, maps, height profiles and gpx/kml
files click here.
T=swc.371
2 comments:
Am on this walk but starting from Abergavenny so will do much shorter there and back version.
Tahnyet
3 off the posted bus did the full route, including the three dips into the gorge for waterfalls and cave. Plenty of photos were taken. After starting slightly late due to road diversions, we crossed the Usk into Abergavenny just before 8 pm, in the last light. Had a drink at the Kings Arms' outdoor seating in the almost Mediterranean evening temperatures and then dispursed.
2 others had walked the route off an earlier bus (w/o the dips into the gorge) and 1 walked a short out-and-back from Abergavenny due a late start. N=6 w=late-summer-feel
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