It was really hard to choose my favourite event from our jam-packed week but this one was certainly my most memorable one – our day-trip to the Scilly Isles!

I doubt Ella or I could have been more excited when we passed the first islands skirting St Mary, the largest of the lot and the one we were visiting. It was a gorgeous day – the sun had finally appeared which made the white beaches and turquoise ocean seem ever more appealing.

The port on St Mary could easily have been mistaken for a foreign one, with its cobbled pavement and hardy houses that lined the harbour. We set off on the coastal path almost immediately, walking to a lighthouse that stood on the jutting headland sheltering the town’s bay. The path was surrounded with rocks covered in lichen, so much that you could hardly see the object it was coating. The sea around was peppered with islands, most uninhabited. We could also see the coast of Bryher, its sand dunes and beaches that looked so pristine and untouched so that you could barely believe it was such a popular tourist destination. And it was the same for St Mary – despite the tourists that flocked to the isle, it wasn’t uncontrolled and certainly not polluted. It was really touching.

Sooner then we would have liked, we were on the return ferry. The journey back was a lot less bumpy and we spent a lot more time on deck. By the time we got back, I was gutted though – not only because we were leaving the isles but also because I had missed the pod of dolphins swimming by the boat! The Scilly isles was an incredible place – we could see why author Michael Morpurgo had based some of his books there. And like him, we would love to return again someday.

By Amy

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What an amazing week this has been. Every day has been jam packed with things to do, so it has been hard to choose  my highlight of the week. I think it’s probably the time that we spent with Emily Penn.

After a barbeque at her parents house, we spent a few days sleeping out in our Tentsile. Emily had been invited to talk over at St Mawes and we joined her for the evening. We took an exciting ferry, shared a meal of fish and chips and then listened to her amazing talk on plastic pollution (which came in handy when we went to the Seal Sactuary later in the week and interviewed some off the keepers about plastic).

Then on the way back we took a rib ride to where we started. We were going so fast the rain felt like hail on our red faces. Bouncing over waves, we had to hold on tight to the now slippery handrails. We screamed with pure excitement as we were bumped around by the waves.

When we arrived back at the sheltered bay where we had earlier set off, we slowed down as we weaved between the boats tied to buoys. That was an epic adventure that I will always remember vividly.

By Ella