CONTENTS
- Date, Distance, Time & Map of Route
- Weather
- The Talybont-on-Usk to Llangattock kayak
- Logistics
- Dangers & Issues
- Kayak used
- The Monmouthshire & Brecon canal
- Summary
1. DATE, DISTANCE, Time & MAP OF ROUTE
11 February 2022.
8.5 miles route.
Started 13:00. Finished 18:00. 4 hours kayaking and 1 hour lunch break.
2. WEATHER
It was dry Winter’s day with mixed sun and cloud with a high of about 7 Celsius and with light winds of about 4 knots to 6 knots from the South.
3. THE TALYBONT-ON-USK TO LLANGATTOCK KAYAK
After inflating our tandem kayak on the side of the canal, Archie and I launched from Talybont-On-Usk at about 13:00 on a cold but dry and quite sunny Winter’s day.
There are several canal side pubs in Talybont On Usk and we soon passed the White Hart Inn.
The bare, Winter landscape was quite different to when we had kayaked the Brecon to Talybont section of the canal the previous October when most of the trees had still got their late Summer foliage.
We were soon approaching the Ashford Tunnel on the canal. We had some trepidation about the Ashord Tunnel because it is 343 meters long and about 3.5 meters wide with no towing path. Our main fear was being halfway down the tunnel and encountering a canal boat coming through from the opposite direction.
As we approached the Ashford Tunnel, I was amazed to notice that we could see right the way through to the other side despite the tunnel being about 343 meters long.
Archie and I had brought lights and whistles with us to blow in case we had the bad luck to meet a boat coming through the tunnel at the same time as us.
The long tunnel seemed like some strange sort of underworld. The daylight started to stream in as we departed the strange world of the tunnel and broke back out into normality (if you could ever describe one of our paddles as ‘normal’ that is).
We carried on paddling southwards through rolling fields with towering mountains lurking behind them.
We now and again passed a lovely, old canal side property. It must be great to live overlooking the water.
The bridges on the navigable section of the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal are all numbered consecutively from South to North. So, the highest number bridge is at the Northern end of the canal at Brecon with the numbers decreasing as you head south along the canal towards Sebastopol.
We were now just under 3 miles along the route so were about a third of the way towards Llangattock. We came across a nice picnic area about half a mile before Llangynidr so decided to stop for lunch.
We realised how cold it was over our lunch stop when we were not paddling. I love Autumn/Winter kayaking but you definitely need to bring something warm to wear for when you stop paddling. After about 45 minutes we set off again along the canal, energised by our beers and sandwiches.
We soon came across the series of 5 canal locks on the West side of Llangynidr. These raise the canal up about 17 meters towards Brecon. Due to the proximity of the first 3 locks to each other, we decided to get out and carry the kayak a few hundred meters along the towpath.
We regretted not bringing one of our lighter tandem kayaks for this section of the canal. Carrying our kayak around the locks significantly slowed us up on this section of the canal and this would come into play later, as you will find out.
There was a couple of hundred meters until we got to the 4th lock so we put the kayak back in the canal and I paddled it on my own while Archie walked alongside on the bank.
After carrying the kayak around the fourth lock, we both got back in and paddled along a few hundred meters towards the village of Llangynidr before coming to the fifth and final canal lock.
By doing some quick maths we realised that we were probably not going to get to Llangattock for at least another 90 minutes or so, depending on how fast we paddled.
The northern section of the Brecon & Monmouthsire canal forms part of the Taff Trail Long Distance Footpath, a 55 mile route that can be walked or cycled, starting at Brecon Basin and ending in Cardiff. The navigable section of the canal runs for approximately 36 miles from Brecon to Five Locks, Sebastopol.
As the time approached 17:00, it gradually became darker and the landscape started to develop a slightly eerie feel to it, with the bare beaches of the trees reaching out like long arms and reflecting in the canal as we glided on towards Llangattock.
By about 17:00 we were passing Glanusk. The Green Man music festival is held each August at the Glanusk estate.
The canal was originally constructed to transport coal, lime and agricultural products. It was also used to bring the raw iron ore up the canal from Newport to Llanfoist Wharf and from there on by tramroads to the iron works and returning with trams loaded with iron, the finished product.
We were about halfway between Llangynidr and Llangattock with about 2 miles left to go. It was becoming increasingly darker and we started to realise that we were going to struggle to get to get Llangattock before it got dark.
By 17:30 were just under a mile from Llangattock but it seemed mot be getting darker by the minute. We took some solace in the fact that at l we couldn’t get lost on the canal!
At just after 18:00 we finally got to Llangattock. The canal side and some of the barges moored up were lit up and it was quite a spectacle.
We landed on the towpath just past the bridge in Llangattock at 18:00 in the darkness after another great paddle on the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal.
4. LOGISTICS
I met Archie at Llangattock and we left his vehicle there. We had struggled to find parking locations near to the canal in Llangattock when we’d been planning the route. The nearest viable parking spot we found was a residential street called ‘Canal Close’ just down the hill from the bridge over the canal in Llangattock.
At Talybont-on-Usk, we parked up in the car park at the Bike Hub which is only about 100m or so walk from the canal.
In terms of public transport, the bus 43 / X43 runs between Talybont and Llangattock.
5. dangers / issues
The canal is generally only about waist or chest deep with very little if any current. We would though flag up the below issues regarding the Talybont-on-Usk to Llangattock section of the canal.
The Ashford Tunnel
The Ashford Tunnel could be potentially dangerous if you were to meet a canal boat when inside of the tunnel. However, the tunnel is dead straight so people can see from either end whether anything is in the tunnel or about to enter from the other side.
We would highly recommend taking some form of lighting to attach to the front and rear of the kayak so that any canal boats will see you in the tunnel. Having a flashlight help you see in the tunnel is also advisable.
It took about 5 minutes for us to paddle through the tunnel and we did it in early February so the canal was very quiet and I do not think we saw any boats on the move up and down the canal. We have though done other sections of the canal in the Summer and it can quite busy with canal boats that time of the year.
There are 5 locks to portage around
There are 5 locks to get around on this section of the canal. There are only 6 locks in total on the 36 miles of the navigable section of the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal so the Talybont-on-Usk to Llangattock section obviously involves a lot more portaging around locks than any other section of the canal.
Having to carry the kayak around the 5 locks West of Llangynidr definitely slowed us up a lot, adding maybe 45 minutes or more to the length of our trip. I have since bought a kayak trolley and I would definitely use one on this section of the canal if I paddled it again.
Check for canal closures before going
All of the navigable section of the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal is usually open but some sections can at time be close due to maintenance work or other issues.
The Canal & River Trust who manage the canal publish notice of any such stoppages on their website on the below link.
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/notices
You need to search for any stoppages on the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal for the date that you intend to go paddling on it before you go just to make sure that the section of the canal in question is not closed.
Waterways Licence is required
All craft using the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal,including kayaks or canoes, must have a British Waterways Boat Licence, which is included in membership of Paddle UK or Paddle Cymru, or can be purchased from the Canal and River Trust.
The Waterways Licence gives you access to over 4,500km of river navigations and canals across England and Wales. The below map above shows the rivers and canals covered by the Waterways Licence.
6. KAYAK USED
On this trip we used a tandem full drop stitch inflatable kayak.
It is similar to the ‘Sandbanks Style Optimal’ kayak which I’ve done a review of on my website and also my Youtube channel.
It’s also similar to the Aquatec Ottowa kayak which I’ve also reviewed on both my website and also my Youtube channel.
Drop stitch construction for inflatable kayaks involves interweaving in the upper and lower shell of the walls of the chambers with thousands of threads of fibre fabric. The extra strength provided by this interweaving allows the chambers to be inflated to a much higher air pressure.
7. THE MONMOUTHSHIRE & BRECON CANAL
You can kayak 36 miles of the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal from Brecon in the North down to Sebastopol in the South.
We broke the 36 navigable miles of the canal up into 5 trips of between 6.5 to 8.5 miles as shown on the below map. The Talybont-on-Usk to Brecon section was thus the second leg of our undertaking to kayak the entire canal from North to South.
Much of the canal runs parallel to the Usk River. There are a few points where you could potentially transfer from the canal over to the river or vice versa. It is therefore possible on some sections to kayak down the river and then transfer over into the canal and kayak back up the canal so as to do a circular route.
8. SUMMARY
The 8.5 miles section of the canal between Talybont-on-Usk and Llangattock is a lovely section to paddle with some great scenery.
The Ashford Tunnel is an experience to paddle through, just remember to take lights for your kayak and also a flashlight to help see in the darkness of the tunnel.
There are several great canal side pubs in Talybont-on-Usk, the Coach & Horses at Llangynidr and the Horseshoe Inn at Llangattock.
The link to our video of this trip on our Youtube channel is below: