Thence to Newport. Why? Well, we like old ports (redeveloped or otherwise) and had seen its sculptures and bridges from station in past. It felt tempting, and when it appeared in our ‘go to inspiration’ the Guardian series Where tourists seldom tread... there was no doubt we would follow. Not that we are antisocial or anything like that!
We turned up at the hotel, the Mercure, with ease. It is the tallest building in town, a tower block that it has to be said is a bit of a blot on the landscape. But it is modern, comfortable, the staff very helpful and the views spectacular. And the building is called the Chartist Tower, a name that intrigued us. So we looked into it and that shaped our second day…
But first the river and riverside walks. We took a long walk down the east bank and back on the west, with convenient bridging points, the outermost giving us views to the next crossing, the iconic and apparently still functioning transporter bridge.
The tidal River Usk has saltmarsh, mud and reeds; brownfield sites and greenspace; bridges and sculptures, a combination that is both familiar from home, and individually unique…
And of course there was plenty of wildlife interest: plants, both wild and cultivated; Sycamore leaf galls caused by the mite Aceria pseudoplatani; and a variety of insects including Lackey moth caterpillar, Green Shield-bug nymph, Tree Bumblebee, the micromoth Teleioides vulgella, and some caterpillars (as yet unidentified) munching away communally and contentedly on the underside of Sallow leaves.
Rain came overnight, but the awful forecast for the following day never quite materialised and when it was at its worst we were conveniently dry in a café, museum or pub! The excellent museum helped fill in some of our interest in the Chartists that had been piqued by the name of our hotel building. A call for real democracy, to include votes for all men irrespective of property status, secret ballots, payment for MPs to allow the working class the opportunity to serve and all the trappings of the democracy we now take for granted (apart of course from female suffrage).
And so recently: demands for social and political reform arising from the working classes. Worse still, the abuse of power by those in charge, seeking to keep power and privilege to themselves, a rising quashed by force, leaving more than twenty Chartists dead, and the leaders of the movement sentenced to be hung and quartered. Simply shocking that this should have happened only 120 years before we were born…
So next it was a bus ride out to Rogerstone to see the Chartists’ Memorial, a roadside mosaic, for ourselves:
And there were found ourselves serendipitously close to the Fourteen Locks flight of locks that runs down to Newport. On a branch of the Monmouth & Brecon Canal, built originally in the late 18th century to transport coal and ores from the South Wales mountains.
Long disused and derelict, although now partially restored, the locks with their balancing ponds tumbling down the hillside in a 50 metre fall over just 700 metres gave us a lovely walk, one of the unexpected highlights of our entire holiday.
There was so much to see, including Alder Leaf-beetles. After being extinct in the UK for several decades, this was rediscovered twenty years ago and has subsequently colonised most of England; Newport is currently at the very western edge of its range. The highlight for us though was an Enchanters’-nightshade Stiltbug, only the second time we have seen this insubstantial insect. The area between Newport and Bristol (where we saw our first) seems to be one of its UK strongholds.
There was also a Garden Chafer and a Grypocoris stysi plant bug that feeds mostly on White Bryony, together with lots of ferns and duckweeds, and everywhere (as throughout the whole holiday) Hemlock Water-dropwort.
All rather damp given the weather, but none more attractively so than the droplet-bedecked Large White caterpillars adorning the canalside.
And returning this way on foot took us past our final, almost horrifying, delight. Newport’s other blot on the landscape is the monumental civic centre. Started in 1937, completed in 1964, ostensibly Art Deco in style, to us it radiated more of a Franco Fascist-era grain silo aura. Rather unfortunate that, but it is undeniably monumental!
By now it was late afternoon, just time for a good meal in the Wig & Pen, and back home by train. Another holiday completed with no public transport delays at all!! And a theme seems to be developing…that’s two Newports in three weeks, after the Isle of Wight one. 100% approval rating so far. Perhaps we should look to complete the set of 16 (according to Wikipedia)?….
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Previous blogs of this holiday:
Way out West 1/4: Gloucester… | Chris Gibson Wildlife
Way out West 2/4: Haverfordwest… | Chris Gibson Wildlife
Way out West 3/4: St Davids & Solva… | Chris Gibson Wildlife