A beautiful blue sky greeted us in the morning, and we set off by ferry across Derwent Water to climb Cat Bells - the distinctive fell on the other side of the lake from Keswick, and the first part of our day's journey to Borrowdale.

Cat Bells was busy, but even the number of other walkers couldn't diminish the views - which were crystal clear.

We had an early lunch just beyond the summit, and then made our way down towards Grange. Stopping at a tea room there was probably a mistake - given that it was Bank Holiday weekend!

We left after a drink, and continued on through the woods to Castle Crag, and then beyond it into Borrowdale.

This afternoon stretch to the youth hostel was pure magic, with slanting light and beautiful views of a different kind.

One of the group decided this morning that the walk to Black Sail would be too much for her - and that she'd prefer to meet us in Buttermere. Sadly we set off towards Seathwaite without her, knowing that she'd found the previous day a struggle, and respecting her decision.

From Seathwaite we climbed steadily through the bracken, stopping only to enjoy the waterfalls on the way.

While we rested at the top of this first steep 'up', all the sheep from the fell were herded past us by clever working dogs.

We then continued on up the valley towards Green Gable.

After a steady ascent, we reached the top of Green Gable by 1pm. The views in all directions were stunning, including the view down to Black Sail in Ennerdale below.

We lunched in one of the shelters there before starting our descent.

The day was so beautiful, that we decided on the longer way down via Haystacks.

The descent off Haystacks is scrambly in places - with impressive views of Buttermere below.

Heading down into Ennerdale, we soon reached Black Sail Hut - a welcome sight at the end of a long day.

This youth hostel is the only building in the upper Ennerdale valley. It is a former shepherd's bothy, and is one of the most charming and special of youth hostels, with one of the most dramatic locations in the Lake District.

Pete, who's the warden there, had cooked us 6 different curries (4 of them vegetarian), followed by a fresh fruit salad with 10 different kinds of fruit!

We'd collected wood for a bonfire when we arrived - and sat chatting round the fire for most of the evening.

Another beautiful sky greeted us the next morning. Today we were to walk to Buttermere - and decided to do so via the High Stile ridge between the 2 valleys.

We walked back up to the lowest point of the ridge - Scarf Gap, and then ascended Seat on a beautiful stone-laid path.

Once past Seat, we continued on up High Crag. The steep stone-laid path becomes scree near to the top - as this photo shows. You can also see the Upper Ennerdale valley in the distance below.

Needless to say we had a good rest at the top of High Crag, and some fabulous views!

After a while, we walked on along the ridge to High Stile and Red Pike.

To finish the day, we descended from Red Pike via Scale Force waterfall - stopping for a paddle on the way.

Crummock Water was beautiful in the late afternoon light. We had a drink at the Bridge Hotel in Buttermere, and then walked on to the hostel just outside the village - our home for the next 3 nights.

A gentler day all round today!

Heather arrived to help offer a choice of walks while we're in Buttermere.

Her walk was a circuit of Crummock Water - detouring briefly into the lovely valley behind Rannerdale Knotts.

There were many wonderful trees along the route - and some just had to be hugged!

The higher walk was to ascend Knott Rigg and Ard Crags, returning along the Sail Beck valley.

It was a wonderful heather-clad ridge, with Newlands Valley to our right, and the higher fells of Causey Pike and Sail to our left.

Our contouring path disappeared on us on the way back, and we had to use another with more 'up' on the other side of the beck. Everybody collapsed in the grass after lunch!

The walk back down Sail Beck valley was simply magical in the afternoon sun.

We had our first wet start this morning, though it fined up later.

The women who'd taken it easy yesterday, climbed Mellbreak today with Heather - the steep sided fell to the south of Crummock Water.

The rest of us walked around Crummock Water, with a lunchtime stop at the pub in Loweswater!

We all set off around Crummock Water together. Our perfectly good path had turned into a bog overnight!

The sun returned mid-morning - changing everything.

A rope swing was highly inviting - but unfortunately resulted in a sprained ankle on jumping down.

While some of us hobbled to the pub as a preliminary to walking back round Crummock Water, Heather set off with 4 of the group to tackle Mellbreak.

The views from the path up, and from the top, were stunning.

After lunch on the top, they made their way down a grassy path to Scale Force waterfall, and so back to Buttermere.

In preparation for the big walk back over Robinson tomorrow, the evening was spent playing Jenga rather than going to the pub!

Today was our last full trekking day - and it was a day full of contrasts.

Rain in the first few minutes; then low cloud which kept dispersing as we approached; then brilliant sunshine between the clouds.

Our route back towards Keswick was over Robinson - the large fell behind where we had been staying in Buttermere.

Robinson is the start of a long ridge to Dale Head - leaving us the option of descending from there to Borrowdale, or continuing on towards Cat Bells.

As we walked along the ridge, we saw some of the fells we had climbed over the previous days.

We had our 'second lunch' on Dale Head - looking across to Green and Great Gable, Scafell, Bowfell, and Glaramara to name a few!

Then we descended steeply to Dalehead Tarn, and on towards High Spy (having decided we weren't ready to go down yet).

On High Spy, we did a spot of sun bathing - or just sat looking around at views in all directions.

Finally we dragged ourselves away and headed along Maiden Moor to descend to Derwent Water.

It had been a wonderful walk - but we were all well ready for a lift across the lake to Derwent Water youth hostel.

We spent our last evening together sitting around in the lounge with a glass of wine, chatting and writing up this page!

For our last walk from Derwent Water to Keswick we detoured via Ashness Bridge, Surprise View, and Lodore Falls - just because they were all close at hand.

3 women took it easy instead - catching the Keswick Launch around the lake, and then meeting us in Keswick.

First we took the path past the youth hostel waterfall to Ashness bridge. Skiddaw was just coming out of cloud as we got there.

A little further up the hill we reached Surprise View - a favourite view over Derwent Water.

After a rest in the sun at the start of the Watendlath valley, we headed down the path towards the Lodore Falls, and then along the shore to Keswick.

Our fine weather deteriorated as we reached Keswick, and we sat having a final drink of hot chocolate and cafe latte together in fine drizzle!

Clearly, time to go home - though we all found it hard to say goodbye.