Secrets of The Motorway - M4 Wales (Part 2)

Hi mate , ive done some research on that old building you stood in front of in Neath Wales next to the M4 Briton Ferry Bridge : Briton Ferry Ironworks Engine House, Situated on the north west side of the Briton Ferry docks, the ironworks were established on the banks of the river Neath in the 1840s.The engine house is now in a "poor condition" and "at risk", according to Neath Port Talbot's register of buildings at risk . It has been a grade II listed building since 2000, but it is currently vacant and the council has stated that rapid action is required on this private building as replacement of defective items is needed. It was reconstructed in the 1890s, still as an iron smelter and closed in 1958. The site has been completely cleared with the exception of the blast engine house of around 1910.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Good work sir! It's quite old then.

[@matthewjones9565]

I'm English and live in Swansea, it took me a while to get my head around the way to pronounce place names, he had a good go bless him. Usually when I come across something in Welsh I just get my children to translate for me because they both speak fluent Welsh.

[@djsmeguk]

7:20 I worked with the DVLA, been inside that building several times and can confirm everything you've heard is true.

[@clickrick]

Clearly a lie. No-one who ever claims to have worked there ever did, basically because no-one who ever worked there ever got out alive.

[@AndreiTupolev]

It's rather mind-bending to think that the Prince of Wales of the Prince of Wales Bridge is a different Prince of Wales to the current Prince of Wales 🤔

[@SuperAMJS]

Bridge-ception...

[@AutoShenanigans]

Yeah I suppose the new one gets this bridge handed over.

[@waterfoxy5690]

It it a real conundrum. You'd have thought they'd at least rename it to prevent the lie. I'm all in favor of pulling it down until an acceptable solution can be found.

[@AcheForWake]

Hmm 🤔 Dr Who comes to mind

[@bryn6000]

An usurped & imposed title. An gross insult to anyone in Wales who knows the history of their country & of the title granted by the king/queen of England to their eldest son & heir.

[@MabDarogan2]

Normal people only call it the second Severn Bridge. Nobody uses the silly name.

[@Walesball1214]

so true

[@AldershotDave]

Part 1 of this video should have also made reference to “Severn Bridge”, but didn’t 😊

[@mrbojangles8133]

almost nobody

[@carlharris2808]

That building next to the bridge is the old ironworks engine house built in 1910 and is a grade 2 listed building since 2000. The works closed in 1958.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice.

[@cosmicpop]

There's a lot of history in that area. No mention of the Brunel-designed Briton Ferry dock and the (allegedly) largest dock gate in the world that was filled in to build the M4 bridge.

[@benllewelyn98]

As someone who has spent far too much time inside the DVLA building maintaining telecoms systems and servers. I can confirm there's about 5 people in the building for most of the time all of them just shredding documents and banishing them to the shadow realm

[@iansteel5569]

I never thought motorways could be so interesting, love this channel.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Neither did I.. thanks for watching!

[@buckwheater1]

The 2 part M4 videos did miss out very large chunks of the motorway....Bath, Bristol, connections to the M32, M5, M48, Llanwern Steelworks, A449 junction, Brynglas Tunnels, Newport....Cardiff...Bridgend. Great to see South Cornelly get a mention. First 20 years of my life were spent in North & South Cornelly..... The Margam sidings were cut off in the 1990's as they deemed as not needed any more. When the M4 was being built in the mid 1970's, the Kenfig dunes were in danger of being severely affected by the M4's construction. The A48 section between Margam and Swanea became extremely choked with traffic when the newest section of the M4 was being built in the 1990s. Anyone who was a learner driver who lives in Port Talbot or east of Margam had to drive through Port Talbot, reach the A48M section at Baglan, drive over the Britton Ferry Bridge (that 1950's bridge you mention), then take a left to Swansea or end up being stuck on the M4 restarting again. So much more info I could give...but I don't want to seem boring....

[@andrewmorgan6775]

How about a mention that an episode of Tales of the unexpected was filmed on the M4 between Pencoed and South Cornelly, a few days before it was officially opened to the public..

[@buckwheater1]

@@andrewmorgan6775 I wasn't born when the M4 opened... I did see photos of the fields before the M4 cut right through our back garden.

[@Brian77766]

Fantastic video, you've done us proud by playing the Welsh national anthem (Hen Wlad Fy'n Hadau - Land of my Fathers) at the end. It was very much appreciated!

[@markjlewis]

Yet another exciting episode. I loved the pronunciation of the Welsh place names, you absolutely murdered them! 🤣

[@AutoShenanigans]

I think all of our Welsh viewers are enjoying it.. you're welcome, enjoy the lolz :D

[@markjlewis]

@@AutoShenanigans Keep up the good work, am really enjoying the channel and hope you make 100k soon. When you do I hope you do something special to celebrate. How about 100k circuits of the M25?

[@gymnasiast90]

Love the Top Gear nod with the "producers gave me this CD" gag.

[@AutoShenanigans]

You got it man! :D

[@steviesteve750]

It's Clid-duck (Clydach), luck-er (lougher) and pont-are-dull-ice (pontardulais)

[@bryntownshend6528]

Well that outro was certainly epic! Definetly worth going back to do that

[@williamfence566]

Love this series. As an englishmen living in wales I avoided pronouncing those place names until I'd been there a while.🤣

[@AutoShenanigans]

Yeah I took a punt.. got them all wrong I think :D

[@Davehearne43]

Amazing work 👏 you were standing on a bridge with little train track left between 44 nd 45 of m4 the railway line which is disused goes to the nickel factory 🏭 Clydach swansea line closed early 90s

[@AutoShenanigans]

Shame I didnt pick up on the Nickel factory.. would have been an interesting segment! Thanks for watching

[@chrispenn715]

They used to dismantle submarines on the River Loughor! A friend who lives nearby has a submarine door on the shed his father built!!!!

[@barneypaws4883]

I thought that was the river Neath

[@chrispenn715]

@@barneypaws4883 Oops - yes you're right....... That's what I meant really 🙂 My mate lives in Neath.

[@woden20]

Worth watching just for the Outro.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Awesome, thanks, I really did go back 3 days later to film it :D

[@oddzag]

I chased down the anthrax reference in the Hansard and it is true. Anthony Banks, Baron Stratford then Labour MP for West Ham submitted a question to Archie Hamilton, Baron Hamilton of Epsom then Conservative MP for Epsom and Ewell in Parliament when Hamilton was Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence in January 1987. Hamilton replied "Apart from work carried out within the then chemical defence experimental station, Porton Down, a device containing anthrax was tested on the beach at Penclawdd, South Wales, in 1942. Investigations subsequent to this trial revealed no evidence of any residual contamination." Penclawdd is indeed in the Loughor estuary.

[@andrewdavies3769]

They will only admit to one anthrax bomb being tested of the Marshes of Penclawdd when the people living there and doing the testing say there were multiple tests. Still bombs of various types uncovered to these days with the Bomb Disposal making trips down the detonate them on the sands.

[@somnambulist7705]

You always get an upvote for not starting your videos with the KZbinrs ‘yo!’ I never thought videos about motorways and surrounding structures would be interesting, but you achieve this with ease.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Yo yo yo...whats happenin KZbin, its ya boy Jon. Yeah sounds rubbish. Thanks for watching mate :D

[@davidblackman7085]

Love the bit about the DVLA losing documents, my son applied for a provisional this year, and they returned the documents too another address by sending it to 36 rather than 136, good thing the residents of the other address had a brain and delivered it to the correct address.

[@Scott757300]

“Digging shit up here” 😂

[@hedleyyou]

Glad you’ve reviewed the Welsh end of the M4. It’s a rich vein of road trivia, partly because of the bizarre order in which the sections were built. Travelling on it in the late 70s and early 80s involved doing a bit of M4 then a bit of A48 or A48(M) then a bit more M4! Lots of queueing at roundabouts. Interestingly, the “Cardiff Bypass” (J29-J32) was only completed in the early 1980’s. I often wonder if the belief was that people travelling from the East (England) probably didn’t want to travel further into Wales than Cardiff, and likewise people travelling from the West (Wales) were unlikely to wish to go beyond Cardiff. When this section was originally built, it only had two lanes in each direction, whist the M4 each side of this part had 3 lanes, again supporting the theory that there was little demand to by-pass Cardiff. A legacy of this is going East along the A48(M) coming out of Cardiff, there is a “Ghost” Eastbound carriageway just before J29 takes you on to the M4. It used to be very visible on Google Maps, but not so much these days. This has always baffled me. It implies that this was continuous on to the M4 before the J29 - J32 section was built, but my memory is that the flyover was always there before that part of the M4 opened? Has anyone got any explanation?

[@JV-pu8kx]

"It's Wales. I'm never going to get it right." 😅👍

[@defender1006]

Thanks, I'm really enjoying the channel content on what just off our Motorways etc and hardly ever seen. I just love that comment slipped in about 'the 'small disagreement from 1939 to 1945', classic understatement that's for sure! Ask Jago Hazzard/Geoff Marshall about the GWR branch line and sidings? Also the DVLA/DVLC comments were not that far from the truth!

[@MatthewAnnissMusic]

Maybe secrets of the old trunk roads!: I'd do the old a38 which was replaced by the m5! Many great bits of the road are now B roads and haven't changed since the 70s/80s I did some of the roads whilst visiting Exeter recently and it was very interesting! Great video as always!

[@sr6424]

What happened to the Little Chef buildings and former petrol stations. I remember using the A34 between Oxford and Stratford just before the M40 was built. It was interesting to see the demise of businesses.

[@teafanatic8452]

Such an epic outro for a video about Motorways is entirely neseccary, thank you for returning 3 days later to record it Love the content man

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks mate.

[@moreedcola6837]

Those toll booths always felt like the entrance to Cardiff to 7-year old me.

[@loisbolton1800]

The tolls were only on the westward side of the motorway. You had to pay to come into Wales, but it was free to leave!

[@joelmorter7901]

Indeed I always thought this was outrageous! Surely English people traveling into Wales should have been paid to enter. Raising the average I.Q and teaching the Welsh how to speak proper English 🤣🤣🤣

[@joelmorter7901]

@Nik Evans troll-lol-lol-lol

[@swish843]

Thus one is one of my favourites ! The fact you couldn't pronounce any of the Welsh words made me laugh ! Very informative as always John. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the m25 , m5 and m6. Couldn't care about the M1 but I'm sure though you'll make it rather entertaining with your dry whit

[@MisterTea74]

Top marks for the Ivor the Engine music at the start, strangely the second video I’ve watched today that references the programme.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Jagos mail rail vid?

[@MisterTea74]

@@AutoShenanigans Yes he mentions Evans Evans. Funny old world. Cheers

[@AutoShenanigans]

@@MisterTea74 Yep I watched :D

[@Andrewjg_89]

Hooray part 2 of the M4 Motorway but in Wales. The M4 Motorway is a vital motorway that South Wales benefits from. Including smaller motorways like A48(M) and M48. And of the the bridge that carries the M4 motorway over the River Severn and Bristol Channel.

[@BlameTheLag]

so as a native of briton ferry that building was the engine bulding plant, for the wern works (ww2 plane factory just up the road from it)

[@MichaelSmith-lb4kv]

Oh no 😮 fog on the Brecon Beacons, that’s new😂 spent tons of time there during my service time. Keep exploring the motorways, really enjoy it. Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪

[@NikiDinsey]

Wait, you drove to Wales _twice_ just for this video? What a legend! Cracking content as always John. See you next week!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Yes. I'd also just returned from a weekend away in Wales. so 3 times in a week... I'm really stupid I think.

[@marcusrashid]

@@AutoShenanigans at least it wasn't Slough

[@JamesCherrill]

Perfect bit of sunday morning viewing!

[@lordIanHouston]

M4 finishes at Cross Hands round about 🙂I was a recovery driver in Swansea .... ""Manton Motors" that turned into "Civic Rescue" I think I can remember every blade of grass you pointed out along the M4 lol...

[@Rega128]

Great video as always John :-) can't wait for the next one !

[@beeftech123]

Great video. The tarmac you're standing on at 5:10 is a modern cycle path built in the early 90s. The abandoned A48 carriageway was the opposite side of the M4. It was still there (along with the remnants of 2 petrol stations), until about 10 years ago when the houses were built. Also, as someone else mentioned above, junction 44 'roundabout' is worth a mention due to its right hand turn 👍

[@henkmeerdink2088]

and the monstrosity that is J46...

[@thefenlanddefencesystem5080]

I spent three years working for Swansea University and this has made me nostalgic and emotional. I do think the Welsh part of the M4 is the more interesting bit -- wait, no Brynglas Tunnel? Anyway, thank-you for not mentioning Bridgend.

[@AutoShenanigans]

As always time is against us and we cant include everything. Thanks for watching!

[@hedydd2]

@@AutoShenanigans Perhaps you could consider spending a bit more time on the day to produce longer, less frantic videos?

[@thefenlanddefencesystem5080]

Seriously -- a train once got me marooned in Bridgend past midnight. Without the M4 (and a taxi), I probably wouldn't still be here to recount the tale. Never again will I leave myself at the mercy of rail.

[@st05002125]

As a blue light driver I can tell you from experience I have not been able to turn at the toll booth site, in stead I’ve had to cross to England adding significant distance and time to my response.

[@SuperAMJS]

There's a a satisfactory amount of footage of abandoned shit in this episode Jon. Lovely stuff.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I'd have liked more time to wander around.. the train yard was very interesting..

[@SuperAMJS]

@@AutoShenanigans Perhaps the next series after Secrets of the Motorway? There's plenty of abandonment to be found, and you shoot it beautifully.

[@ed_j_webb]

7:00 - D'Oh! I always thought that the DVLA and DVLC were different things and wondered why there was no DVLB.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Another example of how disorganised they are... can't even get the alphabet right.

[@grahamshillingford8229]

I'm not welsh, but I had the pleasure of living in the Neath area when the M4 bridge at Briton Ferry was first being built in 1990. Your pronunciation of a couple of places really did make me chuckle, I had the piss taken out of me & soon learned the correct pronunciation... great videos... keep 'em coming.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I was never going to get it right in Wales!

[@hywelw]

Yay - the nearest one to my home - I could just about see my house in the drone footage looking over 11 Arches (which I can see from the top of my garden). In a glorious pixel or two! Mountain View car park is known locally as Top Gear car park because Top Gear filmed for a lot of episodes along the A4069 just below the car park using helicopter footage to follow the cars along the winding road and the locally famous "Tro'r Gwcw" (Cuckoo Turn) hairpin corner. . And yes, I've investigated that abandoned railway bridge - I always thought it was created to serve the Mond nickel works just north of the M4 in Clydach- something that you can actually see on even modern OS maps. But you're right - having looked at the old maps, it did also serve other industry in the past - though by the time the M4 opened, I think it served only the Mond. The abandoned A48(M) you spoke about between J43 and J44 - about half a kilometre of this still existed, fully tarmacked and even had the remnants of two old petrol stations (one for each direction) until about 10 years ago when it was redeveloped into the new housing estate that's now there. It survived roughly 40 years after closing having been sold back to the local farm owner (who gave a hard time to anyone who attempted to go to see it, even though OS maps ostensibly showed a public footpath crossing over it, now completely deleted on modern maps).

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice part of the world to live in! Someone else pointed out the A48M abandoned stretch that you mention..its on google earth still if you use the historical images.. looks like the exact sort of thing I'd enjoy but as you say.. now a housing estate!

[@andreafox4099]

Hywel, Bont girl here too! 👍

[@jonb3311]

Clydach sidings for gravel pits! FFS they were for coal mining, the nickel refinery and tin plate works.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I couldnt find any references to that, thanks for confirming.

[@AndreiTupolev]

So that's what "Swansea" looks like! I must admit, a brutalist concrete cube seems entirely appropriate

[@highpath4776]

It was when I went there. some nice little places as short bus ride out and away though

[@huwlewis9059]

To be fair, the DVLA is right on the outskirts of Swansea. The centre is ok.

[@highpath4776]

@@huwlewis9059 Is The Quadrant Bus Station still in the city ?

[@huwlewis9059]

@@highpath4776 Yep, though it’s been three years since I was last there. The waterfront is really nice, too.

[@craigwiggins2535]

Didn’t mention the dodgy slip road at Junction 44, I’m pretty sure it’s the only one in the country that turns off into the centre of the roundabout!!!

[@beeftech123]

Apparently it's not technically a roundabout due to having a right hand turning lol

[@CheeseAlarm]

From the time of its opening until 2011 I used to regularly drive over the "Prince of Wales Bridge". I never knew it was called that. I only knew it as "The Second Severn Crossing"

[@bencole4272]

It hasn't always been called that. It's relatively recent. It certainly wasn't called that whilst you were using it regularly.

[@Ucofatoffski]

@@bencole4272 Still should be named the Gareth Bale bridge....

[@mariemccann5895]

I'm glad KZbin allows me to play back a double speed, it's ideal for content covering Wales. Good video, thanks.

[@AutoShenanigans]

shots fired...

[@PaGaNism]

Nobody is making you watch it.

[@mariemccann5895]

@@PaGaNism You must be Welsh as you clearly don't understand English.

[@PaGaNism]

@@mariemccann5895 You appear to be the only one struggling with reading comprehension.

[@PaGaNism]

@@mariemccann5895 I'm generally a helpful guy so here. This is more on your reading level... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWbIeXtre8Z8n7s

[@AlexWJ93]

Look forward to the M6 with an abandoned theme park turned zombie survival experience.

[@louiehorwood660]

I'm from Cardiff, I hate the Coryton roundabout. When entering from Cardiff it splits off in 3 directions and I always get confused but perhaps I'm just thick idk.

[@RClaffieJr]

"It's Wales; I'm never going to get it right." ROFLMAO... and that drone shot at the end; pretty damn sweet!

[@timsully8958]

Well that episode was crackin’, tidy, sound, orrite that and myriad other stereotypical Welsh acknowledgments all rolled into one. Some lovely liquid sunshine in evidence too 😜 I must admit, you certainly made the M4 seem far more interesting than I remember it. Admittedly I’ve not had reason to use it more than once in the last 30 years so perhaps I caught it on a bad day? 🤔 Of course it isn’t a motorway, but I use the A55 at least annually when I visit the family in Holyhead, and that definitely IS an interesting drive (apologies for being lazy and not checking if you’ve already covered it) whatever the weather and the scenery is spectacular. If you prefer a longer and more scenic route, there’s always the A5 too…though obviously the weather can be somewhat inclement 🙄 ⛈ ☔️ Diolch yn fawr, buttie 👍🍀🍻

[@rosiefay7283]

"liquid sunshine" -- I'll have to remember that.

[@ziggydamaestro]

You’ll have to make another video in future! Plenty more secrets including the plaque on the second bridge for the man who died, the Brynglas Tunnels, J27 slip road design, the missing J31, and the infamous dogging sites at J18, 24, and 32. 🐶

[@AutoShenanigans]

Im aware of the dogging sites, not familiar with the rest :D

[@vickielawless]

Removing the tolls, are you listening owners of the Dartford Crossing?!

[@Cous1nJack]

As of now, Welsh labour want them back…

[@barrywest330]

If you are hinting at the Dart charge being removed think again. How else is the "lower Thames crossing" going to be paid for?

[@vickielawless]

True, it's more hoping than hinting! After all, the London mayor taxes people driving in the Capital, and yet using the M25 is also taxed..

[@AndySteele4242]

The section of A48(M) between J43 and J44 at Neath also known as Neath Bypass built sometime in the 60s and abandoned in 1994, the bend nearer to Skewen is now the M4 but the left side was demolished and a new housing estate built called Cae Morfa is built on where the road would have gone right through

[@robertbuckley2429]

On the M4 motorway part 2 episode 2 TV themes tunes I recognise are from Ivor the Engine and Fireman Sam.

[@thamesking]

Great video of a motorway that I grew to love and hate in equal measure in the 1990s when I lived in Swansea. Brave efforts at pronunciation: Pontarddulais is usually said Pont-ar-dillyce. Loughor is Luch-or (the ch as in Loch), and is the anglicised version of its Welsh name, Llwchwr which sounds similar but with more saliva. Locally Pont Abraham is pronounced the Welsh way with the 'Ab' rhyming with 'cab'. Keep up the good work.

[@AutoShenanigans]

I made no effort on pronunciations :D Thanks for watching mate

[@jammyjames9048]

Love the videos, as a 46 yr old who's always done driving jobs, know most of the motorway network and service areas pretty well 😁, Hilton park a favourite when I had too hitchhike between jobs as a trade plate driver. And Severn view and the old seven crossing for its olde world'e feel 😁 great view point too...

[@AndreiTupolev]

I'd say that old building was an electricity substation. Power station architecture of the early 20th century was fond of imposing windows like that. There was probably a coal fired power station at or near that site

[@Eddiecurrent2000]

Not there, this was a pump or winch house.

[@PeterShieldsukcatstripey]

So very beautiful. Estuaries and landscape.

[@westyham1]

Another great video, thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Awesome, thanks for watching

[@pauloconnor2980]

I love the DVLA building. 1960's brutalist architecture at it's best!!!!!!

[@AutoShenanigans]

It certainly is and it suits them well!

[@andrewmorgan6775]

Driving through Wales listening to Tom Jones? It's not unusual.. 😉

[@AutoShenanigans]

very good.

[@buccabubuccabu]

Can you imagine living on that isolated housing estate at top of picture at 6.06? No shop, no pub, no school as it's too small and no obvious way out except by car. and picking a way under the M4. Anyone fancy growing up there as a teenager?

[@neallewis8628]

its actually not that bad - pubs are walking distance...plenty of kids on the estate..

[@markcf83]

Penrhys in the Rhondda is very isolated in comparison.....

[@conscienceaginBlackadder]

Not mentioned. Tunnels through a mountain in Newport. Newport is half Cardiff's size yet has always had many more junctions. Opened as far as Newport 1967 with no plan yet to go further west, built as an urban mway thru Newport with 5 unlimited junctions in 7 miles, 24 to 28. 25 has changed since,now it's 4 unlimited + 2 limited. Cardiff has 3 unlimited 1 limited, but 30 came 15y later, and 33 5y, than when the Cardiff bypass section opened 1980. It opened with no junctions between 29 and 32, 8 miles, so that Cardiff only had 1 1/2 junctions ! The intended J31 was never built as local opposition to expecting it to jam up the Caerphilly mountain road A469. J27 is shaped like motorways going off on each side. Drivers joining there have to take counterintuitive turns onto the sliproads pointing the opposite way than they are going. The way the eastward sliproads at J28 start off the roundabout line a dual carriageway is because that was the original end of mway 1967. J33 has a road going off it in only one direction, that leads from nowhere else than the mway, and is physically mway standard too, yet is not officially a motorway but an A-road. At its next junction, 3 miles away, there had to be signs "motorway traffic only" but not signs a really making it a mway ! A48(M) is the only number that has moved from one mway to another. 38 to the old ending at 41 opened 1965 as a Port Talbot urban mway built on its own, A48(M). 1977 the present A48(M) in Cardiff opened while the Port Talbot one became part of M4. The bridge section after Port Talbot was late opening, c1990. For years before, the old ending there, built for the A48(M), was labelled in AA maps as a temporary end point. As if it was going to be removed, not that they were going to put that stretch of 2 parallel mways instead !

[@roderickmain9697]

Back in the early 80s when I learnt to drive, the DVLC picked up the moniker of "The Swansea Joke Factory". Fortunately for me, I had already got a provisional licence but, due to strike action, lots of people had an inordinately long wait to receive theirs and be able to start lessons. "It should be with you next week..." 14 days later "We are working through the backlog...." Friends waited a long time.

[@seanrucksounds]

You went from the toll roads and jumped to Coryton, missed out so much stuff through MOD Caerwent, Family of pandas on Malpas roundabout, A449 junction to the M50 Then onto Swansea where you missed King Arthur’s cave in Pencoed Abandoned Quarry in Bridgend by MacArthur glen RAF llandow The port Talbot flyover. to name a few :(

[@Cameron0208]

also, the tunnels!

[@CallMeKam.]

He missed loads!

[@mittfh]

Also in the Newport area, there's a missing junction (junction numbers skip one - a junction was planned in between, but presumably was dropped before construction started) and a giant hotel where a G7 (or G8) summit was once held.

[@seanrucksounds]

@@CallMeKam. I know, Gutted! waited all week for this and I couldn’t even finish it.

[@AutoShenanigans]

As you'll have seen in part 1, we ran out of daylight and we had to avoid that this time around... It's sadly just not possible to fit everything in.

[@Rorschach.]

Great wit, as always. 👍

[@AutoShenanigans]

Nice one, thanks for watching

[@KenwayJoel]

The DLVA wouldnt be working on black hole tech simply because that would mean them actually working on somthing

[@AutoShenanigans]

nice.

[@fishettibean]

What about junction 31?? How could you have missed the most important junction of the whole M4...... 😆

[@tomarse99]

He’s still looking for it 😅

[@edward_4073]

I'm trying to decide if it's a good or bad thing you didn't mention the worst part of the M4: the Brynglas tunnels, the section famed for its near constant traffic jams, so much so that its a big surprise if you drive through the tunnels having not slowed down at all (from the 50 limit)...

[@AutoShenanigans]

I must admit we managed to get through without an issue!

[@edward_4073]

@@AutoShenanigans Lucky you!

[@stevec00ps]

Enjoyed this :) My inlaws own a farm next to the Cornelly quarry so it was good to see that

[@AutoShenanigans]

Wonderful, there's a good chance I was trespassing in their fields. Sorry about that. Thanks for watching mate

[@josephmiller7356]

THAT WAS VERY INFORMATIVE JOHN 👍, I LOVE YOUR QUIRKY HUMOUR TOO 😃.

[@combatking0]

When visiting Wales, it's not unusual to listen to the music of Tom Jones.

[@rickydub6950]

Top comment in my opinion 😂

[@petedenton9434]

Also if your outro music is Morriston Orpheus Choir with BTM Band then I have a feeling I'm playing on it. It sounds very much like the arrangement we recorded with them in the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea in the late 1980s...

[@AutoShenanigans]

I really hope it is that version but sadly I've no information to confirm. What a fabulous piece of music that I had no idea about until now. Kinda kicks the crap outta the English anthem.

[@smogmonster1876]

Another excellent episode John. Thank you.

[@edwardlees4585]

When I was at university in Swansea in the late 90s the local reputation of the estates around the DVLA was not good. People said that buses didn't actually stop and passengers had to jump on or off the moving vehicles otherwise the wheels would get nicked. I never got the opportunity to confirm the story, sadly.

[@AutoShenanigans]

cut off in the 90s! so those wagons have been there for that long!?

[@RFGfotografie]

What an view at the end.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Beautiful isnt it!

[@pilkipilki4472]

Dvla sending documents to a different dimension 😂

[@oddsandwindsocks5905]

Superb content as always.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot!

[@ringo4419]

Always a good watch!

[@hulahoopone]

Best National Anthem in the World Ever!

[@AutoShenanigans]

I gotta say it certainly kicks the crap outta the English anthem!

[@bryansmith1920]

John nice to see you again old pal the worst thing about Britain's Motorway system is it is London centric and not radial The A14 Felixstowe west bound stops short of the A1 at Cambridge and becomes the A1303 and once passed our Pretty new Cambridgeshire village that can charge exorbitant house prices becomes the A428 which suddenly turns north to join the A1 at St Neots so as to avoid bumping into the black cat interchange on the A1 which Could take you straight to junction 13 of the M1 as a truckie I was always wishing the guys that planned these roads designed them for any other use than to get them home quicker

[@AutoShenanigans]

Hello mate! We just dont have the foresight to do much of use it seems!

[@angharadhafod]

Another fun fact: you called the second Severn Crossing the "Prince of Wales Bridge". That name remains controversial; DuckDuckGo it.

[@lukasvondaheim]

I did try to Bing it but was sadly not sucessfull

[@angharadhafod]

@@lukasvondaheim Microsoft 🤣

[@donottouchmyfood]

Nobody in Wales calls it the 'Prince of Wales' bridge.

[@mrrandomperson3106]

I thought it was just called the Second Severn Crossing

[@popspro1]

they usually call it the seven bridge or the new seven bridge.

[@donottouchmyfood]

@@mrrandomperson3106 and that’s how it should be. We were not given a consultation on “Prince of Wales bridge”

[@gozewstuffnthings5837]

​@@donottouchmyfood watch out, someone who forgot who pays his bennies is about.

[@AwesomeAd64]

Is that Ivor the Engine theme tune I can hear? Another wicked, sweet, awesome video

[@AutoShenanigans]

It is yes :D Thanks for watching mate

[@highpath4776]

@@AutoShenanigans Strictly Ivor was from the Top Left Hand Corner of Wales ( which implies Llandudno Junction on the NOT A MOTORWAY (or is it ? ) North Wales Expressway

[@pluxauag7555]

You're building up a Cities Skylines game fanbase with your Motorway and Junction footage. Hopefully Yumbl channel can chime in. Superb!

[@AutoShenanigans]

I'm still on Sim City but I've watched Yumbl :D Hopefully we see an "almondsbury interchange" episode soon :D

[@Ackerman-ti1fc]

I'm just loving this channel especially the secrets of the motorway series. Fascinating stuff. Keep the videos coming.

[@fang_xianfu]

The outro turned out great!

[@martinburke8314]

You mentioned J41's long slip roads which take you off (heading north/west) or on (heading south/east). What you failed to mention is that J41 also has a set of very short slip roads a little further south which are on ramps heading west and off heading east. That means that J41 is odd in that you join the motorway before leaving. So you can join and then leave the M4 via J41 a few seconds later.

[@WeeShooey]

A lot of effort goes into this, well done. Fun and informative. Subscribed.

[@AutoShenanigans]

awesome, thanks mate

[@cosmicpop]

Excellent as always! However, as Briton Ferry born and bred as I am, you've mispronounced Clydach, the River Loughor and Pontarddulais. I wish I could type what they sound like but I think that would be a hopeless exercise 😀

[@EngineerLewis]

pont arr dow lace ... is that a good rendition of Pontarddulais? 😅 I grew up in Newport so forgive my accent! 😂

[@AutoShenanigans]

Imagine my surprise that I mispronounced the places in Wales. Thanks for watching.

[@cosmicpop]

@@EngineerLewis I'd say it was "pont are dull ice" (trying to use actual English words). Though all because I lived in Briton Ferry for 25 years, doesn't mean that's correct. That is how we pronounced it though.

[@highpath4776]

Is the dd a double d or a d end and a d start ?

[@cosmicpop]

@@highpath4776 double d is a hard "th" sound, like in "they" or "that", but not "think" or "bath". Being a bit lazy though, we never did pronounce it like that in Pontarddulais. I probably use it more correctly now I've been living in London for 20 years 😀

[@bsdjunkie1805]

Another dry wit infused brilliant video Jon, you're getting good at this now

[@AutoShenanigans]

hehe cheers mate!

[@SteveDull]

DVLA - Ministry for Magic - or Tragic!

[@shakedown1979]

Production quality 💯 mate.

[@AutoShenanigans]

Cheers mate.. it's getting better each time!

[@algrthm]

don’t forget the abandoned stretch of carriageway at j29!!

[@paulsengupta971]

What's that?

[@squeakers27]

I'm glad the A4069 was mentioned, it definitely made my trip to Wales a bit more enjoyable. Rest of the M4 was your usual motorway but still with an actual hard shoulder and not much to note.

[@AutoShenanigans]

It's a great road!

[@mtgcardzandreview2756]

I love your reaction's to bees and wasp, but this was time was ironic with the sirens in the background.