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This coveted trophy is contested for between the open Scottish and Welsh competitors at Lochearnhead and our sister competition in North Wales, Corwen Shears. Open competitors, heat points are aggregated then the top three from each of these nations compete in the final with the winning team lifting the Celtic Shield. The top individual wins a trip to Switzerland along with the top Senior competitor from both competitions.

I was delighted to be going to Switzerland, and in late August, Hefin Jones and I set off from Edinburgh. Urs Rothlin met us at Basel and he then drove us to the Heiniger factory at Herzogenbuchsee. We were shown round the factory – it was amazing; every piece of equipment is made with such assiduousness.

At the factory we met Mr Werner Heiniger, who welcomed us to his factory and to his country. Werner told us some history of the company and we were shown some of the finished products that were on display. After spending a few hours in Herzogenbuchsee, Urs drove south through beautiful countryside to Grindlewald.

Grindlewald was a lovely wee town and the view from my balcony was incredible. On our first evening we had a very nice traditional Swiss meal and liqueurs to follow.

Feeling bright eyed on the Saturday morning we caught the mountain train to head up 11, 333ft to Jaunfraujoch or Top of Europe. The train stopped at various places on the way up for us to get out and look at the snow below us. When we reached the top, it was beyond belief how such a place was so far up a mountain! Without a doubt my favourite place was the Ice Palace. Ice sculptors of animals and characters were all shaped to perfection. As the whole place was frozen, even the floor, you had to be careful, perhaps I should have worn more suitable foot wear! Looking out on a blizzard whilst having lunch in the mountain café was awesome.

Mid afternoon we headed back down the mountain to Grindlewald. I had a browse around this quaint little town, as I needed to work up an appetite for dinner. Again Urs treated us to a lovely meal followed by a few samples of aperitifs.

Heading North on the Sunday, we again travelled through some lovely countryside and saw lots of cattle grazing on the hillsides, before stopping at a hilltop restaurant for lunch. The views were spectacular and we were able to look through binoculars back to Jaunfrau and the Eiger in the distance. We then headed back to Basel airport for our return home. All was a great experience until the luggage carrier hit the wing of the plane in Frankfurt and we had to wait for what seemed a very long time until the piece had been replaced.

We had a great weekend, the hospitality and kindness shown to us from Werner and Urs was very generous. This was a trip of a lifetime, thank-you.
 

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