Length: 18.0 km (11.2 mi), with options to shorten
Ascent/Descent: 657/380m
Net Walking Time: 5 hour
Toughness: 6 out of 10
09.30 Start at the Train Station, group passes the café at the Bus Station at 09.40.
Return buses from Brynmawr: xx.57 to 17.57 (33 mins journey, Line 78) or the rare Line A3 at 13.02 or 17.31 (50 mins journey).
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
Take the 9.45 bus up to Brynmawr and walk the route downhill (4 out of 10).
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 A3 (Abergavenny – Brynmawr, Mon-Sat, 3 buses a day) and 78 (Merthyr Tydfil – Abergavenny, Mon-Sat, hourly) travel along the Clydach Valley, calling on the A465 outside Clydach, in Clydach (not the 78), Gilwern and Govilon, enabling shorter versions of the route.
Lunch: Picnic.
Tea: The Hobby Horse, (possibly closed on Mondays), The Gwesty, The Talisman (open all day, right by the bus station), Conscious Coffi Bar.
For walk directions, maps, height profiles and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.371