Walk 13

Walk No 13: West of Usk - Coed Duon
(about 2½ miles - 1 hour; directions last revised on 14.01.24)

Boots are recommended for this walk as stretches of it are usually muddy.

This is a short walk on hilly farmland and through a small wood to the west of Usk. It offers great views to the north.

Usk Bridge

Leave the town square and turn left on the main road. Cross the river and turn right. Pass the Glen-yr-Afon Hotel and shortly take the footpath on the left next to Mayfield Lodge.

Go through a metal gate (usually open) and then straight on, keeping to the field edge. Cross a wooden footbridge at the corner of the field, pass the "Circular Walk 2" waymark post and then swing right.

Cross a stile, ignore the path to the left and shortly cross another stile. Continue straight on uphill, with a gully on the left. Where the gully turns left, go slightly right uphill to cross a wire fence on the right by means of a stile in the hedge. Turn left up the field edge. Follow the wire fence to the top corner of the field. Turn right and after 30 metres cross a stile to the left of a metal gate (or climb the gate if the stile is overgrown). Go straight on with a wood (Coed Duon) and wire fence to the left.

Cross the stile at the end of the field to enter the wood. After 8 metres join a broad track going downhill. This soon swings left and after a short distance turns sharply left and narrows. Climb the steep slope to a stile to the left of 2 large trees very close together.

Cross the stile and turn left uphill, with the wire fence on the left. Shortly afterwards cross a stile and continue in the same direction, with the wire fence now on the right.

West of Llanbadoc

West of Usk on a frosty November morning
West of Usk
(See an enlargement of this photo.)

Cross a stile and continue straight on, with a wire fence now on the left. Cross a stile in a hollow at the corner of the field and go straight on. Go downhill and cross a stile on the left at the end of the hedge. After 25 metres cross a stile to the right of a metal gate.

Head straight across the field to double telegraph poles and continue in the same direction to cross a stile at the edge of the narrow wood. Take the path downhill. Take care here as it is steep and often muddy.

Cross the field parallel to the factory building and take the path ahead. Shortly afterwards turn right on the road and follow this back over the bridge to the town square. (See a photo of a commemorative plaque giving the history of the bridge.)