We all arrived at Coppermines - mostly driving up the rough track to the youth hostel before it got dark.

It had been raining hard earlier, and the rivers and waterfalls were very dramatic.

Women settled in, decided on which rooms they wanted, helped me unload food from my car, made cups of tea and started chatting. It was good to see both old faces and new.

Everyone pitched in - lighting the fire in the lounge, helping with dinner, laying up the dinner table, and opening the wine!

After dinner (soup, baked potatoes with lots of toppings and salad, followed by fruit salad + ice cream) we retired to the lounge.

A mad card game called spoons resulted - I won't explain the rules here, but it was hilarious and highly competitive!

Later we sat around chatting, or headed to bed early after long journeys.

The forecast when we woke was for gale force winds on the tops, and rain later. Needless to say, we planned walks to avoid 'the tops'!

Madeline and the higher walk went over to Tilberthwaite valley, taking the path up from Coppermines over the shoulder of Wetherlam.

The autumn colour of the bracken and grasses was glorious, and rainbows came between the showers.

They headed down near Tilberthwaite waterfall, then back down the road and through the woods to the pub in Coniston.

Meanwhile, the rest of us had walked around the bowl beneath Coniston Old Man, past several impressive waterfalls, finally descending to the Walna Scar Road (an old bridle track) for a stretch.

Looking back we too could see rainbows between the showers. Finally we turned down across the moorland, to circle round and down to Coniston village.

At one point this involved heading over a low rise, at which point we were almost swept off our feet by a gust of wind - and were glad we weren't on the tops.

We had no soon arrived at the Black Bull in Coniston and ordered a drink when Madeline's group arrived. Good timing!

From here we wandered back up the track to the hostel in our own time - some to snooze, some to light the fire in the lounge and chat, some to help with the cooking....

After dinner there were more games and lots of chatting by the fire...

The day started off not to badly and the wind had lessened, however the weather deteriorated quite rapidly once we set of walking!

Some of us headed up Weatherlam while the others made for Coniston Old Man (the Crone of Coniston, of course).

I say some of us headed up Wetherlam, but in fact we only got halfway up before driving rain and poor visibility (and someone not feeling well) made the warm fire back at the hostel seem suddenly very attractive.

Madeline and her group did make it to the top of Coniston Old Man, but took no photos, and ate no lunch ("Just get us down from here now!"), and they likewise returned to the for a lazy afternoon by the fire!

The afternoon was spent playing games, reading the paper, talking, cooking, or sleeping.

Some ventured out again when the rain lessened later, and luckily the rain stopped completely in time for the bonfire and fireworks after dinner.

The rain returned later after sparklers, fireworks, and lots of just sitting round the fire chatting and watching the flames.

Eventually we retired to the lounge for entertainment of a different kind which continued into the early hours!

It was STILL raining this morning - and only one woman wanted to walk. I think that's pretty much a record!

After we'd tidied up the hostel we decided we'd done enough wet weather walking for this weekend, and after hugs goodbye we all headed for home (some via Ambleside for gear shopping, of course).

NB. Change of venue for 2006 Lesbian Bonfire w/e:
Next year's Lesbian Bonfire w/e is going to be in the Yorkshire Dales at the Confluence Centre Barn (which has twin bedded rooms throughout...!)