CAMRA Publicizes New Study of the Village Pub

FROM Campaign for Real Ale:

New report includes a pioneering new method of calculating the social and economic benefit generated by well-run community pubs and finds that pubs are:

•The most popular place where people can mix socially with others from different backgrounds

•A great supporter of charity, with over £3,000 raised per pub every year

•Outside of the home the most popular place for people to meet their neighbours

•A place for people to make new friends- more than one in five pub goers has made a new friend in a pub in the past six months.

http://tinyurl.com/nhonvk

Essential Reading Along the Way

An essential, although hardly exhaustive, list of books helpful for creating an itinerary for the Vales of Wales hike looks something like this:

The Wye Valley Walk: Recreational Path Guide, Anthony Burton. 

(Aurum Press/Ordnance Survey, 1998) 

ISBN 1-85410-532-9

The Wye Valley Walk, Heather & Jon Hurley. 

(Thornhill Press Ltd., 1994)

ISBN 0-946328-34-X

Usk Valley Walk: Official Route Guide, Mike Wagstaff & John Wilkinson. 

(Usk Valley Walk Partnership, 2003)

ISBN 0-954832-0-5

Rivers of Wales: 35 Riverside Walks, Rosemary Hutton.

(Y Lolfa, 1997)

ISBN 0-86243-373-8

Getting the Route Right

The Vales of Wales
Provisional Itinerary

“Usk Valley Walk” section: 5 stages, 48 miles (9.6 mi./day)

Day	Stage	Start	Finish	OS Map	Daily mi.	Total mi.
1	1 of 5	Caerleon	Usk	152	11	11
2	2 of 5	Usk	Llanellen	152	12	23
2	3 of 5	Llanellen	Llangattock	OL13	10	33
4	4 of 5	Llangattock	Aber/Talybont	OL13	8	41
5	5 of 5	Aber/Talybont	Brecon	OL12	7	48

“3 Sources” – Pumlumon section: 10 stages, 97 miles (9.7 mi./day)

Day	Stage	Start	Finish	OS Map	Daily mi.	Total mi.
6	1 of 10	Brecon	Trecastle	OL11/12	12	60
7	2 of 10	Trecastle	Llandovery	OL11/12	12	72
8	3 of 10	Llandovery	Pumsaint	187	10	82
9	4 of 10	Pumsaint	Llanfair Clydogau	187	8	90
10	5 of 10	Llanfair Clydogau	Tregaron	199	7	97
11	6 of 10	Tregaron	Pontrhydfendigaid	199	6	103
12	7 of 10	Pontrhydfendigaid	Devil’s Bridge	187	9	112
13	8 of 10	Devil’s Bridge	Pumlumon	213	7	119
14	9 of 10	Pumlumon	Llangurig	214	16	135
15	10 of 10	Llangurig	Rhayader	214	10	145

“Wye Valley Walk” section: 14 stages, 113 miles (8.1 mi./day)

Day	Stage	Start	Finish	OS Map	Daily mi.	Total mi.
16	1 of 14	Rhayader	Newbridge	200	9	154
17	2 of 14	Newbridge	Builth Wells	200	7	161
18	3 of 14	Builth Wells	Erwood Bridge	188	7	168
19	4 of 14	Erwood Bridge	Glasbury	188	9	177
20	5 of 14	Glasbury	Hay-on-Wye	OL13	5	182
21	6 of 14	Hay-on-Wye	Bredwardine	201	9	191
22	7 of 14	Bredwardine	Breinton	201	11	202
23	8 of 14	Breinton	Mordiford	189	8	210
24	9 of 14	Mordiford	Hole-in-the-Wall	189	9	219
25	10 of 14	Hole-in-the-Wall	Kerne Bridge	189	8	227
26	11 of 14	Kerne Bridge	Symonds Yat	OL14	8	235
27	12 of 14	Symonds Yat	Redbrook	OL14	8	243
28	13 of 14	Redbrook	Brockweit	OL14	8	251
29	14 of 14	Brockweir	Chepstow	OL14	7	258