Newport Canal Circular Walk – Family-Friendly Route in Shropshire

A child-free adventure

Monday 16th September 2024. Today my son had his entrance test for our local grammar school. It’s not really local actually, unfortunately we don’t fall into the catchment so even if he passes it’s unlikely he’ll get a place, but it’s the nearest one we have and with his teacher saying he’d do well in the 11+, we thought we’d give it a go anyway. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

So after dropping him off for his 2-hour test, I found myself in the rare situation of being child free and in a new place! It was a beautiful day, and the thought of bringing my laptop and working in a coffee shop somewhere seemed dull, so I grabbed my walking boots and took off on a little child free adventure instead.

Newport Waterways Circular

There are two circular walks we’ve previously earmarked for a family Walk in Newport, Shropshire, using Dad’s All Trails app. One was the 3.3mile Newport Waterways circular and the other was the 4.2mile Fox and Woodcote Hill circular. I was leaning toward the latter, being a bit longer, but a recent review mentioned boggy ground and difficult sections to pass – and with an average time of almost 2 hours to complete, I decided not to take the risk of getting stuck or delayed and being unable to pick my lad up. So the shorter walk it was!

Helpfully, the walk actually started a stones throw away from the school where the test was being held, so after a quick goodbye and good luck, I left my eldest to his destiny and headed to the starting point. It is described as a canal, but this stretch of water appears to be blocked at two ends, meaning no narrow boat could ever actually use this canal.

The canal was incredibly beautiful though, filled with water lilies and reeds, and absolutely teeming with ducks and cormorants – and even groups of swans. At one point I even saw two tiny ducklings cheeping away – I thought it was too late in the season for ducklings!

At the ‘end’ of the canal I passed some canal workers/volunteers, along with this sign. They must be working on the plans which appear to be focused on turning the canal back into a working canal! What a great idea!

I was pleasantly surprised by this part of the walk. I’m lucky to have a canal on my doorstep, but the tow paths are muddy and only really good for walking in dry weather. Here, the pedestrianised towpath would not only be usable in poor weather, but could even be cycled on – and it’s certainly pram friendly – I passed at least 4 on the short walk up the towpath!

After the towpath, the route turned into your typical rural footpath, and I followed it to a gate where the path split. I’d marked my route on a printed satellite map, which didn’t show the split, so I took a gamble and turned left – the gamble paid off and I wandered along the pathway that ran adjacent to the main A41 road, but much higher up from it. This quickly led to the back of a new housing estate, one of the many that have popped up around Newport in recent years, and eventually opened up to an old lane, feeding me on to Forton Road. Here I crossed and continued onward onto the Newport Rugby and Football ground.

The footpath here was obvious to follow at first, clearly being a popular walk, but after the rugby pitch it appeared to head down to the bottom of the field, but the All Trails route I’d marked out said to turn left after the rugby field and head towards a copse of trees. The lack of a clear walkway and no obvious entrance into the trees made me a little nervous, but as I neared them I could suddenly see a route in and headed toward it. On the other side of the trees was a beautiful grassy area with far reaching views across the west of Shropshire and Staffordshire. It would’ve been a wonderful place to stop for a picnic too, if you were so inclined. It’s about the halfway point if you start where I did, and for any younger families doing the walk, it would be the perfect place to refuel!

Behind the grassy area was a wooded area, which looked to be a fantastic place for children to play, or maybe even bring a mountain bike! However, whilst the views were wonderful, the sound of traffic was prominent. In fact, it was about the only negative thing I could say about the walk. It seemed no matter where I was, there was almost always a hum of traffic, of varying levels, in the background. It certainly didn’t spoil the walk, but it made me feel incredibly grateful that where I live, there are places we can walk where you can’t hear anything. I’m not sure how I’d do living somewhere and never being able to get away from the constant drone of traffic.

I followed the edge of the woodland, next to a field of maize, and found myself arriving at Chester Road. This was the first part of the walk that was on a road – but the road wasn’t too busy, and the path was a good width too. I felt pretty autumnal wandering down this path, as I shuffled my boots through the leaves that had collected down the edge of the path. I’m already excited for more leafy walks – I love autumn!

This road lead me up to the first housing estate as you enter Newport from this direction, where I promptly turned right and followed the edge of another field . This one ran alongside Chetwynd Deer Park. There was a mix of stone wall, fences and trees to separate the field from the park, and being a sliver over 5 foot I couldn’t always see a lot, but when I could see over I looked excitedly for deer – sadly I saw nothing!

This field also fed me onto a road. This time, Edgmond road, another road leading into Newport, but more of a back road with even fewer cars. I was only on here a short space of time before I turned right onto a recreational area. It was here I lost my bearings a little. As I headed around the path that went around the circular recreational area, looking at the map I’d marked, I was suddenly hit by confusion on where I needed to go. The problem was, the satellite map I’d printed didn’t show all the new houses that had been built, and I couldn’t quite work out where I needed to go, as there were now more rows of houses! I followed the route I thought was correct, only to be met by a construction worker who told me I couldn’t go any further – clearly the wrong turn! He was actually really lovely and suggested either the road to my left to get back into town, or there was a footpath through the stables to my right. I thanked him and opted for the footpath through the stables. This had unusual, but very sturdy stiles, which i hadn’t spotted at first, but this proved to be the correct way to go. When I checked my Strava route against the all trails route at home it tallied up – silly me! Never mind, it gave me a few minutes extra walking 😀

Unbeknownst to me at the time, but this turned out to be the final section of the walk! After passing the stables I found myself on Green Lane, a gravel track leading to various out-of-the-way houses hidden away in central Newport, and this lead me right onto Chetwynd End – just a minute or so from the start of the walk! Short but sweet!

Thoughts on the Newport Waterways circular walk

Honestly? It was an absolutely beautiful walk! I was quite taken aback at the beautiful canal, and I think that was a wonderful way to start the walk. Although I didn’t walk with the children today, this walk would be a wonderful family wander, and at only 3.3miles, even younger members would do well (especially if you took the time for a picnic at the place I mentioned above)! It is definitely one I will do with the children in the future. If a pram is needed however, it’s not the walk for you – but the canal would be a brilliant, beautiful – and eventful – walk by itself. I ended up walking the full length (I will be writing about that soon!), and if you need a pram, I’d just suggest just walking the entire canal. The abundance of wildlife along here would entertain the children brilliantly, and a local pub from the start even had some duck food available too. If you’re looking for a peaceful walk, the traffic droning does spoil it a bit, drowning out the wildlife and nature noises, but for a family walk (which, let’s be honest, is often much louder than a solitary walk!) this circular really hits the nail on the head!

PART 2 COMING UP…

TOTAL MILES: 3.60 | TOTAL TIME: 1h08 (1h07 Moving Time)