Monday July 26th

Today we are heading towards Swansea – taking in a small town called Chipping Sodbury on my behalf, as it is very silly name, on the way. We are hurling along the M4 which is marked in blue on their maps which made me think the major highways were rivers – a reasonable deduction, I would have thought but one which has caused a lot of piss taking. Near Chipping Sodbury lies Little Sodbury and Old Sodbury, both of which I hope to photograph. It is overcast and we are flashing past fields with hedge rows, turning off the M4 the properties are immediately bordered by stone fences and the trees hang towards the middle of the road.

Chipping Sodbry is so called because “chipping” means market and Sodda was an anglo- saxon who owned the place in the first millennium. It was a beautiful old medieval town with a very wide street, designed specifically for the local market which ran every week for a thousand years. The local guide showed a building which dated back to medieval times – it is now an op shop – I went in to ask what the “burbages inside” were but the lady behind the counter could go no further back in her imagination than the butcher who was in the building before them.

I had hoped to head back towards the freeway on a small road which runs almost parallel to the freeway and takes in at least three similar towns but I wasn’t sharp enough and we doubled back to recommence our hurtle down the M4.

We just had our first detour off the M4 in Wales. We went to see Castle Caerfilli which was built in the 13^th century and has been deteriorating at a rapid pace ever since. We didn’t pay to get in. We walked along the street. It reminds me of Morwell with grass and castles. Nasty cheap houses, unemployment, desperation… At least the kids are polite, saying excuse me as they whip past on the grassy slopes on their bikes. Picked up a brochure with another 23 castle ruins described. Okay, okay, I get the general idea.

We have just passed the biggest steel works in the world.(At some time, smaller now.) Is Wales the factory of England which had to foreclose in the depression.?

This afternoon we reached Swansea which is much more cheery and pretty. It is a beachside town in full commercial swing. We stopped to drop off stuff at our quaint Welsh guest house and then toured around the Gower peninsula which is a little lump on the bottom of the big foot which sticks out of the west of the UK. We went to places like Mumbles and I forget what else. We had dinner at a pub and I had two wuwus which are vodka, cranberry juice and a few other additives. Very nice but not conducive to new blogging.