Thursday at the Royal Welsh Show saw the supreme champion final of the Horse Young Handler competition. I was eager to run down and support Daniel, one of the competitors. I decided to join his mum Danny at the main showground to get a better understanding of the competition.
Unlike his nervous mum, Daniel was incredibly confident and professional and I couldn't help thinking how I would have performed at his age in front of such a huge crowd of people in the Royal Welsh main ring. Not to mention he and the other competitors were dressed from head to foot in tweed on one of the hottest days of the year. I would have carded them for just turning up!
Danny explained that the judges were looking to see if Daniel mirrored his horse, running at the same pace and keeping calm, complete control over the animal.
It was no surprise to me to see Daniel pulled forward to receive a card, fourth overall. He seemed quite disappointed he didn't do better. Daniel certainly sets himself very high standards. He told me that his future now lies in handling the Welsh cobs and I look forward to seeing him go from strength to strength.
From here I was able to run down to the forestry section to see the axemen. I don't think it's any secret that I love visiting this section and have made many friends here along the years. It was great to catch up with two people I had interviewed five years previously, father and son team Bob and Glen Penlington.
I last saw Glen when he was a young axeman of 17, but now at 22 he was a force to be reckoned with. He would be competing against his dad in the three board tree climb, where axemen attempt to be the first to cut three boards into a tree trunk, standing on each board to cut the next pocket.
Eventually the axeman stands some three metres up in the air cutting halfway through a log before racing down to repeat the same challenge on the other side of the tree trunk. When the top log has been cleaved in two it's a race to climb down, removing all three boards as they go.
There seemed to be great debate and friendly rivalry when I asked Bob and Glen who was going to win, but with Glen having a 45-second handicap on the first axeman to start the competition, I knew we were about to see something special.
Glen was a blinding blur of blade and sweat under a blazing sun, demolishing the competition in seemingly record time. Everybody burst into applause, including me deafening my poor soundman in the process, and I ran in to grab an interview.
"So Bob, five years on, Glen's still winning," I joked.
"Well it just goes to show what an excellent teacher I am then doesn't it?" snapped back Bob with a smile.
If there was any real family rivalry I didn't see it, I just saw a champion and a rightly proud dad.
The pole cam crew, just one if the four crews responsible for delivering the programme
My last interview of the day saw me returning to the Fur and Feather pavilion. As it was Thursday I expected to see guinea pigs but instead I was confronted by some exotic animals.
Jennifer Percival from Anglesey had brought a leopard gecko, Chilean rose tarantula and a royal python to show at the pet section and had caused quite a stir. She let me interview her and Pascal the royal python while she explained how she had got on at the show.
Although Pascal didn't get placed Sky, her leopard gecko, won her class and her Chilean rose came second. Jennifer had also brought seven guinea pigs with her to the show.
Jennifer had travelled to the Royal Welsh with her friend Michaela Dobson from Chester, who also had a strong fascination for exotic animals. Michaela had brought a giant African land snail and a Mombasa train millipede that achieved third in its class.
Michaela explained that she loved the variety of animals and classes at the show and that she and Jennifer had enjoyed a remarkable day.
At the end of the interview it was a sprint down to the BBC tower to get the end link filmed. I think it's fair to say that we dread the end link! When you have 72,000 people visiting an event and you are trying to hold them off to undertake a minute-long piece to camera involving three presenters it is never easy.
Add to that the occasional well-meaning child who wanders up halfway through a take to ask why you are speaking to yourself, Tannoys suddenly firing up and drowning you out, the 'hello mum' brigade and the completely oblivious ice cream-consuming pensioner who's just found a lovely clearing to stand in just in front of that camera, and you return home with very little enamel still coating your teeth.
We do however always manage to complete it. This year had the added challenge of walking in parallel, unable to see what the other was saying during a deafening performance by the Kangaroo Kid.
I managed to start my piece over Sara's twice before we pulled off a link that the Welsh rugby squad would have been proud of. The handover to Rachel went flawlessly and some 40 seconds later all that remained was for Sara to give a link to iPlayer and say goodbye.
Sarah, Rhys and Rachel after filming the end link
Just as the words "BBC iPlayer on" came from Sara's mouth a rather bullish man in a pale blue baseball cap pushed past a runner shouting 'excuse me' at the top of his voice. He walked straight past the camera and proceeded to look for somebody in the crowd.
It wasn't on purpose but to add insult to injury he then returned past the camera for a second time, still oblivious to his surroundings. It was back to the drawing board, but after about eight attempts we finally pulled off the end link.
If you are at home watching the presenters waltz flawlessly, seemly on a jolly from location to location, then we have been doing our job. In reality we are always seemingly late, running from location to location, towelling down, a fluffy anti-shine brush to the face, and then smiling like we've been standing there for an age. Like a beautiful swan, although from the camera's point of view it looks like we are gliding, we are paddling like mad off-screen to make it all happen.
This year's Royal Welsh Show was a particularly memorable one for me. I really enjoyed the privilege of access to the competitors and stars of the show.
Don't forget you can catch up with all the highlights of the show, including quite a bit of previously unseen footage and new interviews on the BBC iPlayer. Thank you so much for tuning in and we hope to see you again next year for another action packed Royal Welsh Show.
