WALES
■Distance: 5¾ miles/9.3km ■Time: 3 hours ■Grade: Moderate
The UK’s network of now-gentle waterways once operated as the motorway of its day. Heralding an arm of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, Fourteen Locks’ Cefn Flight was an ingenious cascade of locks designed to navigate a drop of 169ft in just half-a-mile. Add a vibrant urban nature reserve and a peaceful forest, and it makes for a surprisingly rich route on the edge of busy Newport.
1 Start From Fourteen Locks Canal Centre, follow the pound – the pond between locks – clockwise and cross the small bridge. Follow the towpath L, passing the Cefn Flight. Locks 20-17 constitute two pairs; they have lost their glory, but their sheer scale impresses. Look for bye-wash opposite Lock 17, which was for years used as a swimming pool. Continue down towpath past Pensarn Cottage, and walk through the M4 underpass.
2 ½ mile/1km Turn briefly L then cross canal at first bridge. Follow the waymarker directly ahead, through the metal kissing gate, to follow the Sirhowy Valley Walk uphill. Gaining the height of the second field, take time to look back at the landscape to the N. At top of field, continue uphill briefly along a narrow lane before turning L onto the Ridgeway.
ROUTE
Start/parking Fourteen Locks Visitor Centre, grid ref ST279886, postcode NP10 9GN Is it for me?
Good paths with some steep sections. Navigation skills needed Stiles 4
PLANNING
Nearest towns Rogerstone/Newport Refreshments The Dadford Tearoom at Fourteen Locks Canal Centre (01633 892167), The Café at Ridgeway (01633 265279) Public toilets Fourteen Locks Canal Centre Public transport Bus 1 from Newport stops at Cwm Lane, near start. Trains Newport to Pye Corner, 1 mile from start Maps OS Explorer 152; Landranger 171
3 1 mile/1.8km Pass the mast and turn L down Allt-yr-yn View in front of The Café at Ridgeway. After about half a mile, pass Allt-yryn Drive (R) and look for the gravel track L, doubling back SW into the nature reserve. After a short distance, look
