Wales' giant constituency tests the Senedd's big parties
Getty ImagesThis Welsh Parliament election is different.
More Senedd members and a change in the voting system, and newer, bigger constituencies.
One of the biggest is Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, stretching from Swansea in the south west to Knighton in north east Powys.
It's roughly 1,370 square miles, making it about the same size as Cornwall. And a two-hour, 84 mile-long drive from one end to the other.
So how do you campaign in an area this size, with the aim of representing all of its people once elected?
I've hit the road to meet some of the candidates in what is the third largest of Wales' 16 constituencies.
In Talgarth at Gwernyfed Rugby Club I meet Reform UK's lead candidate, James Evans.
"I'm the vice chairman here and I team manage a couple of the teams here, so it keeps me busy," he says.
How does he plan on getting out to meet his constituents if he's elected on 7 May?
"It is a huge patch. No good having an electric car, it would probably run out by the time you got from north to south," he says.
"But, you know, it is important you get out and meet people, get to community events as much as you can."
He concedes that doing that will be difficult across such a big geographical area.
If the sheer size of the seat has made reaching voters a challenge for candidates, it's a challenge that the six Senedd members who are elected here will also face.
The Brycheiniog part of the constituency is rural, relatively affluent, and tourism and agriculture dominate here.
It's also an area where voters have tended to back the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives.
But the Green Party is currently targeting this seat, and its lead candidate says he has a plan if he's elected.
"I can't lie and say I haven't thought about it," says Nathan Goldup-John.
"I think the best way to do that is to have touring hubs, and I'd make sure that every other weekend or every weekend I'd go to a different town or settlement within the area."
Getty ImagesAfter charging up my car, I set off to Hay-on-Wye. The town of bookshops, and home to the annual Hay Festival, is right on the border with Herefordshire.
I meet Welsh Liberal Democrat leader, Jane Dodds, in a coffee shop in the shadow of Hay Castle.
"We meet people where they are, that's the important thing," she says.
Having previously represented the seat in the old Senedd system as a regional member for Mid and West Wales - an even larger area to cover - she doesn't think size is an issue.
"We do surgeries in places and we run a whole range of opportunities to meet people," she says, adding: "It's just getting used to sitting in a car and driving around."
Which is what I'm doing now as I get back on the road to meet the next candidate who is 51 miles away.
It's a journey that will take an hour and a half over Bannau Brycheiniog to the edge of the western Beacons to Tairgwaith.
The village is named after three cottages, Tai'r Gwaith (the works' houses) that were built for pit officials when the first colliery was sunk here during the 1830s.
Opencast mining replaced the deep pits all over this area, they too have now closed and there are plans to open a centre for water sports in the lake that was created at the former East Pit site.
The scars of industry are clear to see across Tawe Nedd and there are clear inequalities in terms of employment and health.
"It doesn't matter how big this is," Welsh Labour's lead candidate, Mahaboob Basha, tells me.
"Reaching the community, talking to them, listening to them and supporting them, that is what Welsh Labour values rest in."
The former mining communities have traditionally voted Labour, but Plaid Cymru is targeting this seat. The party is in coalition with independents running Neath Port Talbot Council.
Under the old voting system, Plaid Cymru also had two regional MSs.
"There'll be six representatives covering the whole constituency," said Plaid's lead candidate Sioned Williams.
"All of us will try our absolute best to represent them.
"I don't see that really is a problem, I see it really as an opportunity."
Because I was meeting candidates where and when their diaries allowed, my final drive is right to the very north of the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency, to meet Welsh Conservative candidate Tyler Chambers in Rhayader.
"You can't do it from your office desk. You've got to be out in your community," he says.
I meet him on the council estate where he grew up.
"You do that by just getting out there, speaking to as many people as possible, but going to those community events.
"I know if I'm elected I want to hold as many community surgeries as possible to try and engage and speak about those issues."
The size of the seat, along with the others, will be subject to a fresh review after this election, with some changes possible before the next one in 2030.
