Sudbrook and Black Rock

A fairly easy walk starting at Caldicot Castle. Adequate parking facilities. This walk takes about two and a half hours to complete. Getting out onto the coast path enables you to see the second Severn Crossing opened in 1996. A new walking and cycling path is being created in Caldicot, transforming a disused military railway line into a section of the National Cycle Network. The first phase has already been completed and the tunnel in the picture shows the route from Portskewett to the outer reaches of Caldicot Castle Country Park. A lot has changed in this area since the time of the first Covid 19 lockdown back in 2020: new build houses and the creation of a new multi user cycle path which will have a number of environmental benefits. You have two options: a longer walk 8 miles (13 km) over to St Pierre Pill and back or if pushed for time like I was today you can reduce the distance to 5 and a half miles (8.7 km). The shorter walk is, imo, the better of the two as it takes in the new Caldicot to Portskewett cycle route and furthermore it is well signposted. Also the return footpath from the coast path to the village of Portskewett was closed earlier this year so for now it makes sense to do the shorter route. A short note on Black Rock Black Rock has been an important crossing point of the River Severn for many centuries. Numerous coins found in the mud show that it was in constant use throughout the Roman period, on the route between Aquae Sulis (Bath) and Venta Silurum (Caerwent).