Brecon to Brynich lock circuit, mid Wales

The proposal was for a day in Brecon, seeing the town and a short walk along the canal .. it turned out a little different.

Brecon is less than an hour away from Steph, so when we got there it was easiest to park in the long stay car park just down from the theatre close to the river.

In town most things were shut and only a few people milling around, so we had a wander around before ending up by the castle and cathedral.

Taking the river walk back to the van - with a slight detour for Bertie to go paddling, after finding the only easy access to the water.

We paused briefly to get the picnic and then headed for the canal basin besides the theatre and the canal terminus.

walking along the tow path

first through the industrial estates then past the football and rugby pitches.

The canal had a number of sign boards showing the heritage and the tramway to Hay-on-wye.

Then it settled into a relatively straight route beside the road into Brecon town from the bypass.

There were more people on the towpath than I had thought - obviously a popular route, and with no good place to stop we kept going until we got to the A40 road bridge.

Under the road, and after a second bridge things calmed a little as we moved away from the road. One quiet(ish) spot with a view of the Brecon beacons and Pen y fan was already taken so we continued on towards the lock.

The lock in operation, as we moved on there was a queue to get downstream and much confusion.

We stopped at the lock and found a picnic table for lunch with views up and down the canal and also over the river - the canal crossed it a little further down on an aqueduct.

A large sign showed how far we had come.

Backtracking up the canal to view point over tot eh beacons we took a diversion down to the river. Bertie dropped in for another dip, as it was shallow and slow running at this point.

Sticking to the path beside the river Usk was much less crowded with only a couple of people the whole return.

This path followed the river in pasture fields - some with sheep others empty

empty fields above the river, having crossed under the A40 again.

A few more visits to the water, when the opportunity arrived for Bertie as the path followed the river bank.

Then after we had passed all the playing fields we cut back up to the town again, re-joining the outbound trail just near the canal basin, and hence back to the van in the car park.

A longer walk than I had first thought we would do, but very pleasant especially the return.