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Brecon

We started at the Canal Basin, home to Brecon theatre and car park, although you must pay there is a café and good toilets. The theatre was built near the site of the town’s racecourse in 1996. Theatre in Brecon goes back to 1699, after the restoration of Charles II Brecon was one of the first places to have a theatre. The Canal Basin was once a busy industrial area with wharfs, a saw pit and a brewery but it is now a place to escape the busyness of life and enjoy peace and wildlife. There were several barges moored.

We left the Basin via a tunnel to follow the canal, the route was east, returning via the river Usk. The canal began as the Brecon and Abergavenny canal in 1800 and in 1812 joined the Monmouthshire canal providing access to Newport and the sea. The men who constructed the canal were called Navigators, now known as ‘Navvies’,

There are 27 historical plaques around the town and one house on the canal bank at Eliot St has added their own ‘NILOC ESMAJ 1703-1784 Time Traveller Lived here 2041-2046’! Dozens of ducks gathered around a young family who were feeding them.

At Watton Wharf, one of seven on Brecon canal, coal, lime and limestone would have been loaded on trams bound for Hay-on-Wye and beyond. Deliveries of wood, farm produce and beer would also have arrived here. As quantities carried increased, compared to horse and cart, some items became cheaper. In the early 19th century, the tramway from here to Hay-on Wye connected with the Kington tramway, Hereford; their combined length was 36 miles making it the longest rail network in the world at that time. Although steam locomotives had been invented this tramway was operated by horse drawn trams. The tramway has now disappeared but an arch across the canal indicates the site of the tramroad. The last commercial traffic was carried on the canal about 1915 and the final toll collected on the canal was at Llangynidr in1933.

On the Hay tramway there is a delightful wooden sculpture of a man with a trammer or draft horse. It has a list of fines for various misdemeanours, such as moving faster than walking pace, which range from 10 -20 shillings (50p-£1). The 20 shillings fine would be worth about £500 nowadays and any informant got half the fine!

Continuing along the canal we came to a row of limekilns. The day was now sunny and reflections of the greenery along the banks of the canal were clear

We walked through several tunnels and began to get glimpses of the river Usk. An information board had fascinating pictures of people, some with amazing headwear, working on the barges and tramway. The canals are now used for leisure and pleasure we came across a restored lock in good condition. Did you know that Victorians enjoyed pleasure boat trips on the canal and coracle fisherman used it.

We reached a point where the canal passed over the river and nearby, we saw lots of barges tied up along the canal bank and a man paddling a canoe at speed. Trees had long exposed roots which looked as if they were ‘walking’ towards the water. In an open area we could see the hills outlined around us.

Now we climbed onto a bridge and walked through some fields. At Llanfrynach we briefly visited the church with its lovely wooden beams supporting an arched ceiling and metal signs with the words of the Lord’s prayer and Creed. We stopped for lunch at a small playground where we spread ourselves around (a swing proved comfortable but a bit creaky with my weight!).

After lunch we crossed a field to reach the river and found a variety of fungi – King Alfred’s cakes, parasol mushrooms and shaggy inkcaps

Brecon appeared above us and in no time at all we were back in town. We came to the Usk bridge with its seven span arch bridges, which was built in 1563 and has been enhanced to carry modern traffic. Christ College, a successful private school is nearby. A Dominican Friary was established here c1250 and a collegiate church in Abergwlli, Carmarthenshire was moved, under a charter of Henry VIII, to this site in 1541.

The theatre café supplied us with drinks as we eschewed the town’s pubs of which there were 47 in 1834.

Walk 8.5m 200ft. Map OL14