Monmouthshire and Breconshire Canal

The Monmouthshire and Brecon canal in South Wales is arguably the most beautiful canal in the British Isles. It was built as part of the infrastructure required to facilitate the start of the industrial revolution in Wales with iron being transported along the length of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal to Newport and subsequently for export all over the world.

The Monmouthshire and Brecon canal is now enjoyed by tourists and local people alike who are astounded by the beauty of a canal set almost entirely within the Brecon Beacons National Park in an elevated position enjoying far reaching views across valleys to the mountains of both the border counties and the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains.

Beacon Park Boats base on the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal is one of the most beautiful locations from which to hire a canal boat anywhere in the country. Set about a third of the way from the southern end of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal current terminus at Cwmbran, Beacon Park Boats at Llanfoist Wharf offers a fascinating start to a canal boat holiday. The Wharf building itself is over two hundred years old and is steeped in history with the incline planes of the tram roads which fed it’s goods in years gone by rising steeply from the hill behind the building, all of which is now part of a World heritage Site.

The Monmouthshire and Brecon canal then wends its way from Llanfoist wharf through the national park up to it’s northern terminus in Brecon, offering the visiting boater some of the most stunning scenery in South Wales as a backdrop along the route.

A canal boat holiday is not complete without the experience of locks, tunnels, lift bridges and aqueducts. The Monmouthshire and Brecon canal offers all these and much, much more. Being separate from the main canal system the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal can provide visiting boaters with the peace and tranquillity craved by those who struggle on the overcrowded main system.