Last leg of the bike journey. Am I glad of that. First stop -

Tonna

22 votes. I could cry into my beer. Welsh Labour again swamped this ward, over it like a rash. I checked the Twitter feeds for the winning candidate Leanne Jones over the last couple of weeks before the vote.

April 21 - Leanne, hubbie and kids (known as Team Jones), plus Jeremy Miles AM canvassing

April 22 - Leanne and hubbie

April 25 - Leanne and Debbie Harvey (the Welsh Labour Dyffryn candidate)

April 28 - Team Neath meeting with Carwyn Jones. Leanne has personal photo with him

April 29 - Leanne and Jeremy Miles AM

April 30 - Leanne, Christina Rees MP and Dean Cawsey (another of Ms Rees' staff)

May 1 - Leanne, hubbie and kids (Team Jones)

May 2 - Leanne and the Lord of Neath, Peter Hain

May 3 - Leanne

I reckon the people of Tonna were browbeaten into it, overwhelmed by a tsunami of Welsh Labour canvassing, pestered and cajoled until they said, ENOUGH - I'LL VOTE FOR YOU THEN. JUST STOP KNOCKING ON MY F***ING DOOR, WILL YOU!

But seriously, if canvassing was the be all and end all this seat would have been won by 220 votes, not 22. Leanne was into the local Tonna rugby team as well (now don't be silly, I don't mean it like that) as well as the ladies' section of the Tonna Male Voice Choir. Welsh Labour are dab hands at knowing which buttons to press in the locality to hang on to that vote.

Lee Bromham-Nichols fought the seat for Plaid Cymru. Lee is actually the partner of Darren Bromham-Nichols, who fought the Resolven seat but as an Independent. I believe Lee works full time in the private sector. How could he possibly match the hours poured into the ward by all those bodies referred to in my list above? With the exception of "Hubbie", Mrs Harvey and those kids of Leanne's, I think the rest are sucking those public sector teats until they run dry. Correction - by definition, public sector teats can never run dry, they just produce more milk to fill 'em! These people aren't subject to the kind of time restraints and working pressures that those in the private sector of the economy live with every single working day. Life's one big jolly for them. Hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, pouring into the hands of those listed. Makes my blood boil!

And if you look at the result, you know who we can thank for that Welsh Labour win? The bloody Tories! Because if they'd not run a candidate in Tonna, Lee would have waltzed home and justice would have been done.

It would be remiss of me not to mention Nick Williams, the Independent candidate. He polled 10% but during the campaign was involved in a "Trial by Facebook" on Neath Voice, with accusations of racist remarks being thrown at him. It got so bad that Plod were involved, visiting one of Nick's accusers. The Facebook thread was pulled - very much belatedly in my opinion. An element of relative calm returned. But public witch hunts disappeared in the Middle Ages. I have no desire to see them return in a 21st Century format. That's my last word on this one.

The cruel irony of this Tonna result is that prior to the election, the ward was represented by a Welsh Labour female, who prior to May 2015, double-jobbed, working in 39 Windsor Road for the Neath MP, Peter Hain. And after this election it's represented by a Welsh Labour female who now double-jobs, working at 39 Windsor Road for the Neath MP, Christina Rees.

People of Tonna - what have you done?

Neath North

Oh, the horror, the horror. If 22 votes wasn't bad enough in Tonna, here the difference is down to just two. Two votes! And look - the Tory candidate messed things up for Andy Lodwig as surely as anything that Welsh Labour did. I reckon if they hadn't stood a candidate then Andy would have topped the poll. This has to be a target seat for Plaid as well next time. The Bollinger Brigade had better get it down their necks while they can. You're drinking in the Last Chance Saloon, boys!

I understand that Andy observed a lot of activity at the count with officials looking in and under boxes etc - the vote was so close. If he'd been advised by those who had been through more than a few such things, they could have mounted a challenge on the night, asked for a recount maybe. But the opportunity slipped away. Andy is young enough and hopefully enthusiastic enough to come again. It's the non-Labour voters of Neath North I feel sorry for.

The people of Neath North and beyond have another chance to vote for the Tory candidate, Orla Lowe. She's standing in the General Election for the Conservatives in the Neath constituency.

Neath East

Absolutely no doubt in my mind that the multiplicity of candidates and Parties in this ward again allowed the Labour trio in. The Tories ran two candidates, yet a Tory win in Neath East must be as likely as running into Christina Rees wearing a frock and full slap, or Halle Berry walking into the Protheroe and asking STaN if he likes his eggs hard or soft in the morning. It ain't gonna happen - ever! So yet again - the Tories helped bugger it up, and Labour slip in via the back door if you'll pardon the double entendres. It grieves me, this result, it really does. Some really good Plaid and Independents offering change to the same old, same old, same old from the old Labour trio who seem to have been there as long as dinosaurs ruled the earth. This HAS to be Welsh Labour's last clean sweep of this ward. Even the dinosaurs couldn't last forever.

Neath South

Ooh - have I been waiting to cycle into this ward. It's easy to forget that young Jamie Evans (can he really be just 20 years of age?) had a fellow Plaid candidate, Ann Rees-Sambrook alongside him and what a fight this couple made of it. This was surely the surprise result of the election, Plaid coming from virtually nowhere since 2012 (the two Plaid candidates got 299 votes between them) to top the poll (Jamie) and Ann getting 437 votes herself.

I had followed the couple's campaign and thought I like the cut of these two. They knocked on doors, they talked to people, they got people believing things could change for the better, they got more posters up than their Welsh Labour opponents. They went into a Welsh Labour stronghold, held by the Deputy Leader of NPT Council (Peter "Reverend" Rees) and one of their most high profile, young councillors, Andrew "the Apprentice" Jenkins. And beat them up!

Andy was the biggest Labour casualty of the election. I don't think it's true that he went home and trashed his favourite litter-picker but I bet he felt like it. I thought he made a number of errors, faux pas in his campaign - and that's not hindsight. I could see it happening. Whether his more experienced colleagues saw them and said nothing, leaving the unfortunate Andy "jobless" after the result, who knows? Me, I'm not bothered. That may sound harsh but my focus was in seeing as many Labour councillors toppled as possible. I'm dissatisfied with the overall result in that sense, but Jamie, mega-congratulations to you, young man. I wish I'd had your confidence at that age. Definitely one to watch.

But let's ponder this result just before we leave. A straight Labour - Plaid scrap. IF the Tories and/or the Independents had thrown candidates in, there's a real chance history would not have been made by Jamie. IF we are to get the change we want in NPT, and that's ditching the present administration, then in my opinion there has to be a non-Labour alliance either official or unofficial. Parties/Independents will have to forgo fighting a seat for the common purpose. Otherwise I fear we'll never see the change so many of us want.

Cimla

I'm afraid this is the last stop on the tour.

Labour had a relatively easy two seats here (they held the two seats anyway). The Lib Dem, Charley Cross, faced criticism on local Facebook for not canvassing the ward in the depth she'd have liked. It's difficult to match the coverage of the Labour Machine and I believe she entered the fray later than she'd have liked, relying perhaps a little too much on literature rather than on knocking doors. She'll fight another day, definitely, and I know contemporaries speak highly of her.

John Warman got 50% of the vote, a very good personal result. Obviously his constituents aren't bothered by his attendance records. Oh, I clean forgot - they wouldn't have known of them would they, because they are effectively buried by the Labour run council. Let's just say in the last year they are fractionally worse than the %age figure that voted for him and leave it at that.

Adam McGrath is a newbie to representing the Cimla ward, living coincidentally at an address that was previously given by a Labour councillor in the last administration. That's the "Invisible Man" who moved to Llanelli while still representing Bryncoch South. Perhaps the address is a Welsh Labour "safe house" where they can hide from the world. In the interests of security, naturally STaN will not be publishing it.

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That is all. I've covered two valleys and more than a few hills on my bike tour. I'm just too knackered to get to the top of Cimla mountain and drop down into the Pelenna ward. Sorry folks. But here's the result if you'd like to see it:

One vote the difference! The Welsh Labour candidate at the foot of the table is the male half of Team Jones, his wife Leanne winning the Tonna seat. Just sometimes, I think there may be a God.

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