Wales while a country it is both British in make up and very orientated to remaining British unlike Scotland.

I have in the last week entered Wales from the East travelled to the ocean on the West coast and driven up the centre to the coast in the North West.

Previously i have travelled West to East on a return motorcycle trip from Ireland and on another trip covered much of the Easternn border region with Great Britain.

The features that most come to mind are the villages many of them left over from the Welsh coal mining days.

Following that is the road network. Yes there are main M type roads infact the M4 is the major artery from Great Britain to the Cardiff area (Capital of Wales).

Thirdly come Agriculture with this falling into three distinct areas. Livestock consists of sheep and cattle.

Croping is predominantly for fodder with harvest of the first cut fully underway resulting in congestion on the roadways as trucks laden with 2tonne square bales move20-30 bales at a time. Their progresses is a brown swirl of falling straw onto the roadways. Coupled with this is the slow moving large tractors man 9f which are John Deere's,New Hollands, Deutz or Massey Ferguson.

roads also become congested with the other primary area of Agriculture that of Forestry. As one travels North into the Campian Mountains the forest plantations abound but rather then waiting for ever or never at the bequest of "Greenies" logging is very active so masses of timber jinkers join the overcrowded roads in the rural areas especially.

Agriculture is under going many problems similiar to Australia. firstly they have had very little rain and summer crops suffered and winter crops have not been planted as yet. Talking recently the national President of The National Farmers Union (NFU) Mrs Minette Batters informed me that "farmers now had greater flexibility to take water from rivers,dams,wells and lakes located on their own land." she added "Welsh dairy farmers on an average are spending 60000Stg ($100000 AUD) on fodder suplements with yields also down and cattle fertility rates down 25% this past Spring breeding season."

Much of the animal output is sold to the Chinese market with the usual middleman taking the majority of the returns. Dumping is also common with Prime Australian Topside steak selling to restaurants for $5.99kg!.

With constant travel food cannot be carried so I have the opportunity to eat out every meal every day so one become either an expert on choice of eating establishments or a bored critic. Wales has thrown up (no pun intended) three estabishments that are tucked away for another possible visit on a future trip. Mr Chips a basic Fish & Chip shop was found by accident well the availability of a non paying parking spot while I was near Milton Haven in the South. The staff were pleasant and at no additional cost the freshly fried Cod was consumed at a table with conversation between other customers. On the way North to Aberyatwyth a small village not only saw us dining on local Welsh meat pies (Greg just what we needed and couldnt find) with lashings of free Ketchup or brown (HP) sauce at again a table with cultery at no additional costings. From memory that shop was called Evans and like so many places in Wales took after the European maninland tradition and closed for the afternoon despite customers stil trying to enter the shop. The quality of food was a testement to quality as staff also ate the food..

Morning tea breaks are often taken at say a Welcome Break (Truck stop franchise), McD or when possible a local bakery or tea house such was the case yesterday when a tourist suggested the latte-Da tea Room.

The smilies and well dressed staff were immediatley followed by quick service and home baked cakes. This was in strong contrast with service at Basil's Express hotel where no staff appeared to say even Hello unless by SMS,phone or written signage. I can only assume that a man in a white singlet who at first appeared to be a vagrant looking to gain entry via the coded door was infact Basil (why not as the hotel resembled Fawlty Towers) was seen unscrewing a sign board from the front of the hotel, was infact well a shabby Manager or a handyman or ?? who knows.

I do know that many of the villages work very hard to maintain their centuries old homes by promoting their village as a place that not only should tourist visit but local need not leave. The photo's show one village where this moth of August they will host a Tractor run,a choir performance, a painting exhibition, Falconry day, A coffee in the garden day and the town musical a really busy month.

Most villages also proudly host the local County Fair and all combine at The Royal Show of Wales with The Prince of Wales often contributing to programs and putting in appearances. Recently The Corn Exchange opened. This was the result of village people getting together to raise sufficient capital to purchase the local run down hotel from the Chain owners and arranging renovations into a series of shops displaying local handicraft, foods and office space. The Prince opened the complext on 5th July.

Late one night after dinner a local sugested I drive out to the local Hydro Electric scheme, the largest in the United Kingdom. This series of damwalls normally hold sufficient water to generate enough electricity to power central Wales.

The main reserve was at a historic low infact the original village that was drown when the dam filled was exposed. On arrival I talked with a group of local motorcycle riders who for the first time in their lives found themselves allowed to ride in the bottom of the dam some 80m below what is the normal water level. Much of this was due to the curent drought but just prior to the normally expected rains the ëxperts"allowed the dam to run low while maintainance to the intakes and pumps was carried out.