Forty-eight miles up the River Usk from Caerleon to Brecon, riverside paths giving way to canal towpath
The Usk Valley Walk follows the River Usk upstream for 48 miles (77 km), from the Roman town of Caerleon near Newport to Brecon, usually over three to five days. It is mostly an easy waterside walk on field, wood and riverside paths, with only two real climbs — over the Kemeys ridge just north of Caerleon, and around Glanusk west of Crickhowell.
From Caerleon it works up the valley past the market town of Usk, long known for its salmon fishing, to Abergavenny under the Sugar Loaf. There it leaves the riverbank and joins the towpath of the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal, which it follows — river and canal running close together — through Crickhowell and Talybont-on-Usk into Brecon. The mountains of Bannau Brycheiniog flank the valley for much of the way.
The walk is waymarked with a white otter’s head, for the otters that live on the Usk, a clean river also known for its salmon and herons. It stays low throughout, which suits walkers who want the scenery of the national park without its high, exposed ground.
Abergavenny has a station on the Newport–Hereford line, and Caerleon is a short way from Newport, so the ends and the middle are all reachable by public transport. The route links existing rights of way along the valley into a single line from the coast to the hills.
