We all absolutely loved undertaking sea kayaking for our Gold DofE Award- especially kayaking around the Isle of Anglesey for our practice expedition, and kayaking around the Isle of Arran for our qualifying expedition. Having already completed my Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh's Awards, I was incredibly excited to get stuck in with sea kayaking and enjoy the great outdoors!

During our practice expedition, whilst circumnavigating Puffin Island off the coast of Anglesey, we were greeted by lots of seals around our kayaks! They came within touching distance of us, and we were delighted to get so close to them! Seeing such wildlife as seals so close to us helped ensure that my DofE expeditions were truly memorable experiences. I greatly enjoyed my practice expedition- well, except for the part where I capsized!

Around the Isle of Arran, we went ashore to look at various places like the village of Brodick and the wonderfully remote Laggan Cottage. We loved gathering around the campfire each night- and best of all, during our qualifying expedition none of us capsized at all! We often explored sea caves during our expeditions, and loved finding out all we could about the environment around us!

For the volunteering sections of my Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE Awards, I volunteered as a Young Leader with Beaver Scouts, and loved every minute of it! Having volunteered with Beavers for over 4 years, I saw two full cohorts of Beavers develop such valuable skills for life and have a great time whilst doing so! I also joined the committee of the Scouting and Guiding society at my university for my Gold DofE skills section, and I've developed so many useful skills from running the society behind the scenes!

Throughout the Bronze, Silver and Gold DofE Awards, I have learnt so many new things. I have so many special memories from taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award from over the years, and I'm incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunity to get it