IF you're feeling in need of some R&R this summer you should make a beeline for the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal.

From this week until July 3, the 'Routes and Roots Festival' is celebrating the heritage and communities of the canal with a series of fun events for all ages.

The main aim is to highlight the 'green' travel routes and the historical roots of the canal and its links with Blaenavon World Heritage Site – but it is also an appetiser for the canal's bicentenary celebrations next year.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Torfaen CBC, the festival is being organised by the Forgotten Landscapes Partnership, working with Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Blaenavon World Heritage Site, British Waterways and adventa.

The canal, along with the tram roads and railways that supplied it, played a vital part in the story of the Forgotten Landscapes and the World Heritage Site.

The festival will focus on the shared heritage of the villages of Gilwern, Govilon and Llanfoist at the same time promoting recreation on those historic tramways and railways, which nowadays provide a network of footpaths and cycle tracks.

Guided walks and cycle rides (for all ages and levels of ability) and opportunities to learn from experts about the area's wildlife and industrial heritage are all featured in the festival programme, with events for families and schools high on the list.

There's everything from an outdoor art class and a short course on coracle-making to an evening walk in Clydach Gorge with actors in period costume relating tales of the area's history and folklore.

Festival co-ordinator Gez Richards is a waterways enthusiast who has journeyed hundreds of miles by boat across the UK and mainland Europe.

"I've travelled the Kiel Kanal across Germany, the Canal du Midi across France and the Gota Kanal across Sweden, but the Mon and Brecon is the closest to my heart," he said. "Its setting in the heart of the Brecon Beacons combined with the peace and quiet of the Usk valley make it a very special place."