Published in Country Walking magazine, July 2024
Start/parking: Fourteen Locks Visitor Centre, ST 2793 8863
OS Map: OS Explorer 152
Distance: 5.8 miles/ 9.3km
Time: 3 hours
Grade: Moderate
Is it for me? Good paths with some steep sections. Basic navigation skills needed. Good public transport
Fourteen Locks is a step back to bygone times, when now-gentle waterways were the motorway of their day – fitting, as this surprisingly rich route straddles the modern-day M4. Heralding the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal – the ‘Mon and Brec’ – Fourteen Locks showcases the Cefn Flight, 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 for a serene escape 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 series of locks. Locks 20-17 constitute two pairs; they have lost their glory but their sheer scale still impresses. Look for the bye-wash opposite Lock 17, which was for years used by locals to teach children to swim. Continue down the towpath past Pensarn Cottage, which was home to the last lockkeeper, ‘Squire Jack’, and walk through the underpass below the M4.
2. 0.6 miles/0.96km: Turn briefly L then cross the canal at the first bridge. Follow the waymarker directly ahead, through the metal kissing gate, and follow the Sirhowy Valley Walk uphill. Gaining the height of the second field, take the time to look back at the beautiful landscape to the north, where this walk will later take us. At the top of the field, continue uphill very briefly along a narrow lane before turning L onto the Ridgeway.
3. 1.1 miles/1.8km: Pass the mast and turn L down Allt-yr-yn View in front of The Cafe at Ridgeway, a popular pitstop with cosy timber-and-glass pods. After about half a mile, pass Allt-yr-yn Drive (R) and look for the gravel track L, doubling back SW. After a short distance, look carefully for the steps R (they are easy to miss!) and follow the path down to a series of vibrant turquoise ponds. This spot was occupied by an Art Deco-style lido between the 1930s and 1950s, and is now home to kingfishers, bats and many species of bird.
4. 1.9 miles/3km: Follow the obvious path between two ponds and exit the nature reserve to rejoin the towpath. Cross the bridge and turn briefly L before bearing R at Grove Farm. Follow the underpass to return N of the M4, following the Fourteen Locks Circular waymarker between the paddocks. Follow the fields W, crossing two stiles, the second of which leads into the copse. The path dips in and out of the trees and onto Tredegar Park Golf Course until the clubhouse rounds into view. Cross the green and follow the tarmac driveway (the right of way is a signposted footpath, but this adds nothing to the walk and includes three stiles that were almost impassable with brambles at the time of visiting).
5. 3.2 miles/5.1 km: Follow the long drive to turn L into Parc-y-Brain Road. At Grove Farm Shop, cross Groes Road carefully and enter Mescoed Mawr forest. Follow the obvious path W and turn R onto the forest track. After walking for almost half a mile, look carefully for the intersection of narrower paths crossing the main track. Bear SW until the path exits over a stile into a meadow, where to your right is a lovely view of Twmbarlwm hill.
6. 4.1 miles/6.6km: Cross the meadow, bear R onto the lane and quickly L through a green gate onto Newport Golf Course. Continue SW to pick up a grit path, which veers R before turning into Llwyni Wood. Exiting the trees again, don’t continue along the track but take the grassy path south, past the clubhouse and to the end of the drive. Cross another hump bridge, turn L and follow the towpath/National Cycle Route 47 back to Fourteen Locks.
Further info:
Stiles: 4
Nearest town: Rogerstone
Refreshments: The Dadford Tearoom at Fourteen Locks Canal Centre, The Cafe at Ridgeway
Public toilets: See above
Public transport: SJ15 Newport Bus, Newport Bus Station to Rogerstone. Transport for Wales, Newport to Pye Corner Railway Station
DON’T MISS: The craft shop and small museum in the Canal Centre for the story of engineer Thomas Dadford Jr.
