Newport to Caerphilly

On arriving at Newport Railway station I was somewhat confused as to how I should get to Newport Castle where I was planning to start the walk.  Following the busy road after the pavement disappeared did not seem a safe option, and it was necessary to take a more circuitous route (see gpx trail for details). In fact there is not much to see of the 14th century castle, just a few walls; it is one of the many castles in Wales that reflect the wars between the Welsh and the Normans or English.

From the castle I followed Cycle route 47 (and here it is also the Usk Valley walk) up the river. The local authorities in Newport have done much to make the place more attractive but it is let down by empty shops, litter (smashed glass, beer tins) and in this case, also concrete blocks trying to stop people following the waymarked route. However on reaching the Monmouth and Brecon canal things improved.

This section of the canal has been abandoned and is now enjoyed by Moorhens and Mallards and a variety of vegetation. It is still navigable from Cwmbran to Brecon and it would be nice to see this section in use again with families on holiday travelling in barges up the canal; however at present it serves well at supporting the local flora and fauna, it is a habitat that it would also be sad to lose. I continued along the canal, parallel to the motorway, from which section if you look to the North you can see the ridge that the trail will join rising above the still hilly lower ground. After a while the canal turns under the motorway and climbs through a flight of fourteen locks. At the top you are rewarded by a cafe at the Fourteen locks canal centre, where I stopped for a latte and an excellent slice of chocolate cake with cherries etc....

I left the canal to join the Sirhowy Valley Walk, and cross the broad valley of the Ebbw river. There was some new housing being built on the floodplain, worrying given the risk of flooding but it appeared protected by thick concrete walls and some efforts seem to have been made to increase the ground level under the houses. The path then climbed up the other side of the valley before heading north through pleasant woodland and ultimately reaching the peak of Mynydd Machen at 362m, the point at which the ridge at the edge of the carboniferous basin changes direction from East - West to a more northerly path. It is a great spot to look back at Newport and the housing climbing the sides of the hill opposite. Looking North from this point up the ridge separating the Sirhowy and Rhymney valleys, you can see one of the slag heaps left from the now defunct coal mining in the Rhymney valley below (i.e. the useless rock that had to be mined to get at the coal itself). It is now just about covered with grass although forms an unnatural shape. In the autumn and winter the hills appear a rusty and then brown colour, but come the spring grass and bracken will turn them into a vivid green.

I retraced my steps downhill a short way to join the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway walk which took me into the village of Machen. The waymarked path (if you can find the waymarks, otherwise use the map) takes you across the river and around the back of some housing, again on a flood plain. The path to the south of the housing can get flooded forcing you through the housing, however beside this path is what looks like an abandoned coal mine shaft. Red coloured water, characteristic of old mines, is flowing out of a hole that is just about visible.

After crossing a field of horses and following a road, the route took me through a path overgrown with brambles into trees before reaching Draethen and the Hollybush Inn (fortunately it was closed when I passed so I was not tempted to buy a pint, now that weekly recommended alcohol limits have been lowered in the UK under pain of getting some terrible cancer). I then climbed up through the Rupera nature reserve, diverting off the Rhymney Valley path briefly to climb Craig Ruperra, which is not only a great viewpoint but also has the remains of a hill fort, a motte (as in motte and bailey castle) and a summer house (the arbour is a little along the path). Returning to the Rhymney Valley path you pass Ruperra castle itself. Built in the 17 century it is now a ruin and was for sale at £1.5 million not so long ago.

The path continues along one ridge then crosses a valley onto the parallel ridge (missing the nearby Maenllywd Inn). In the woods that follow there is a hidden bunker from the second world war where saboteurs would hide in the event of a German invasion, launching attacks on the enemy. As the woods to the North changed to farmland the path went through some muddy sections, the mud extending to left and right as people made ever wider diversions to avoid the quagmire. For some reason there is also a long length of steel cable along this section. Leaving the woods the path crosses farmland, a farm (eggs for sale) and a small road, and I eventually passed an interesting limestone quarry on the left, where you can see the layers of rock dipping steeply to the North, at this southern edge of the Carboniferous basin.

This picture was from a later walk on the Ridgeway in May with the wild garlic in full bloom and the leaves a fresh green

Eventually I crossed the main A469 road leaving left the Rhymney ridgeway path after the golf course and headed North recrossing the A469 to the Mountain Snack bar (another temptation, as eating a bacon butty is now also meant to give you some type of cancer). It was then an easy walk down into Caerphilly. On the way you can see some pits, when we were young we used to say they were craters left by bombs in World War II, however were actually dug to mine shallow coal and iron ore. Caerphilly has an exceptional Norman Castle, the second largest castle in Britain. Caerphilly is also home to the mild and crumbly Caerphilly cheese and a railway station that took me back to Cardiff.

The whole trip was 31.6 km long (a shade under 20 miles). Although the ridge is not that high (362 m at the highest point) there is a total ascent of 1048m as a result of going down into valleys and then up again. The gpx trail is available from Wikiloc by clicking on the link or you can follow it on the Ordnance Survey Explorer series Sheets 152 and 151 with a small bit on Sheet 166. It is also possible to obtain the route from ViewRanger in a form suitable for downloading to a phone. You can make the trip shorter by starting from Rogerstone railway station (on the Ebbw Valley line) and/or leaving the Rhymney Ridgeway 2 kilometres before you reach the A469. In the latter case you can head South to Cefn Onn park and Thornhill & Lisvane railway station which is opposite its entrance.

Update: In the snow the trail turns into a picture from a Christmas card as you can see from the photo below: