Day 4 - Green and Grey Wales

I woke up early and at 9.30am went next door to Damon’s Restaurant for breakfast. I was persuaded because the breakfasts got good reviews and I was entitled to a 15% discount.

It was like an American Diner with booths. I ordered the Deluxe Edition breakfast which included 3 sausages and 3 rashers of bacon. It was a decent huge breakfast, but I’m not sure it warranted the rave reviews.

At 11am, I checked out of the motel and in thick fog I rode to Sleaford 22 miles. Visibility was a nightmare and it took me over 40 minutes to get there. I had no reason to go there, other than I had always been curious to see what it was like after it became famous to me through the band - Sleaford Mods.

Sleaford is described on the Visit Lincoln website as an attractive and bustling market town surrounded by flat fenland countryside, whose skyline is dominated by the 144-foot stone spire of St. Denys' Church.

I parked outside St. Denys’ Church and took the customary photo, which seemed to be the Sleaford’s only landmark of interest. I shouldn’t be surprised, but the average Sleaford citizen appeared to be inbred, the Sleaford Mods duo are testament to that.

Literally 5 minutes later, I was back on my bike and heading to Cardiff. Still in thick fog, my route took me via Newark, then down the A46 around Leicester, M1, M69 to Coventry, M6, picking up the M42 around Birmingham, then south down the M5.

As soon as I reached Gloucestershire, the fog cleared and the sun came out allowing me to get my foot down and make up for some lost time. North of Bristol, I joined the M4 and headed west over the now toll-free Severn Bridge.

I finally arrived at 3.50pm at my destination, Wisestay, a very cheap and cheerful guesthouse over looking the Principality Stadium. I dumped my bags and headed straight out to the Cardiff National Museum, passing and sticking my nose in Cardiff Castle on the way.

Tripadvisor describes the Cardiff National Museum asone of Europe's finest art collections. Five hundred years of magnificent paintings, drawings, sculpture, silver and ceramics from Wales and across the world, including one of Europe's best collections of Impressionist art. The building also has galleries showing the diverse natural history of Wales, as well as a journey taking you through the Evolution of Wales (with dinosaur displays) from the very beginnings of time to the present day.

I had just 30 minutes to run around the museum to look at the exhibits on display. The highlights for me were the natural history exhibits including a 3D printed replica of an adult male mammoth.

At 4.45pm the museum closed and I walked back via the town centre only to discover that all supermarkets closed at 5pm and were refusing entry to customers. I had no choice but to return to the guesthouse empty handed and eat the still unopened 6” Bakewell tart for my dinner.

At 7.50pm, I arrived at tonight’s venue, The Tramshed. I managed to squeeze myself into a position right at the front against the barrier (it seems my lengthy Saturday walk is still paying dividends!)

I didn’t move all night and used my advantageous position to practice my evidence gathering skills. I was really interested to watch the support crew setting up with every piece of equipment in its exact pre-marked position.

I took numerous videos (I will be adding a video to each day of my blog) and photos throughout yet another glorious set which saw several changes to the running order. They again started with my favourite Snelsmore Wood, which this time I videoed in it’s entirety.

Justin thought Green and Grey was a fitting song to finish the Welsh show. I can’t imagine why!

After the show was the usual photo and I bumped into numerous people I knew including JP who had been on NMA European Tour Magic Bus. We walked back to our respective accommodation together and arranged to meet for a pre-gig drink in Northampton.

NMA Song of the Day - Green and Grey by New Model Army.

Non NMA Song of the Day - Tweet, Tweet, Tweet by Sleaford Mods.Читать далее