We arrived at Glaramara on a gorgeous blue-sky afternoon with fabulous views of the fells.

Had a very tasty evening meal together, quick drink in the bar and then most of us had an early night.

Woke to a fantastic blue-sky with mist lying low in the valley.

This burned off before we set off up the Seathwaite valley via the Borrowdale Yews.

These 3 yew trees are hidden a little way up the slopes and are especially protected by the National Park as 'ancient monuments'.

They're estimated to be well over 500 years old - and have an enchanted feeling where 'time' is irrelevant.

Then we continued our journey up the valley where we had to stop and look through the spyglass at some sundew.

We managed to pass the enticing teashop of Seathwaite to wander further up the valley and some of us reached Stockley Bridge, whilst others sat to admire the scenery - the midday sun was very hot.

Then we had lunch together beside a wonderful plunge pool where some of us braved the freezing water and splashed about.

After lunch, we strolled back towards Seatoller along the Allerdale Ramble marvelling at the good weather and great scenery.

Reaching the Yew Tree café in Seatoller we indulged in tea and cakes.

After supper, some of us went searching for bats - we only needed to go out of the front door because we found a largish bat roost around the side of the building.

We saw lots of bats busy feeding and heard their echolocations on the 'bat detector'.

We woke to another sunny morning - although it clouded over after breakfast as we started along the path towards Rosthwaite.

In one place this gentle path beside the River Derwent gets rocky and positively adventurous!

There was an agricultural show on at Rosthwaite with marquees; sheep dog trials etc, which we watched for a while.

Then we joined the Cumbria Way along Stonethwaite Beck, where we saw dippers splashing through the water, and had a peaceful elevenses looking over towards the Borrowdale Fells.

We crossed the bridge and picked our way across the boggy mire (with lots of sundew and moss) towards another pretty bridge over the Langstrath Beck.

We had lunch on the grassy plateau beside the junction of the two Becks overlooking the wonderful gorge here - but a bit too misty to entice anyone today for a swim.

After a very leisurely lunch, we suddenly started noticing lots of mushrooms and toadstools beside the path - including the bright red caps with white spots of Fly agaric Amanita muscaria.

Back to Rosthwaite for tea and cakes at Flock-In café.

From here we had good views of the Agricultural show, where some of us got hooked into watching various wrestling matches!

From here some of the group caught the bus back to Glaramara.

The rest were keen to walk back - crossing over the River Derwent on some stepping stones, admiring the stone bridge at Peat Howe and slowly wandering back beside the river.

At Seatoller, a few of us detoured to the Yew Tree for a pint of their tasty home brew beer!

That evening we were very entertained by Kate and her charades in front of the fire at Glaramara!!

Half the group got up at around 6am (well before sunrise) to watch the pipistrelle bats return to their roosts under the barge boards of the centre.

Over 20 bats swirled and swooped above us before landing on the barge boards, closing their wings and suddenly disappearing. The last one flew in when it was nearly broad daylight (about 6.45am).

Of course, we weren't the only ones watching this spectacle. Fido, the house cat put on his own spectacular high jump show as he tried to claw the bats as they circled just out of reach above him. Luckily he didn't catch any!

We had the best of the weather before breakfast, and it was a bit misty again when we set off for Grange and Derwent Water.

This time, though, we confidently strode across the slippery rocks where the chains were, and the sun came out to brighten our path through Borrowdale's woods.

We stopped for elevenses beside the R. Derwent and fed the ducks, then later had our lunch on the shingle river 'beach' as we neared Grange.

From here we walked to Derwent Water and over the boardwalks towards Brandlehow Landing Stage.

At Brandlehow, 3 women decided to catch the ferry to Keswick for a little retail therapy while the rest of us wandered back through the valley on the Cumbria Way and Allerdale Ramble, taking in all sorts of wildlife on the way.

Lots of flowers - tormentil, bog ashphodel, a moth caterpillar - and the wonderful aroma of bog myrtle - a bright yellow fungus called Yellow Stagshorn Calocera viscose.

When we finally reached Grange, we had a much deserved tea and cake break before catching the bus back to Glaramara and chatting in the bar.

Our last day together and we once again enjoyed a hearty breakfast!

A few of us then had to leave early to start long journeys home.

But most of us had time to walk along Watendlath Beck, through the beautiful native oak woodlands here towards Watendlath Tarn.

The beck had a magical feel, flowing through mires, horse-grazed fields and surrounded by steep crags.

Once at Watendlath Tarn, we enjoyed our final tea and cake stop at the café here!

Then we wandered back along the beck, taking in all sorts of wild flowers (sneezewort, devil's-bit scabious, sundew and a beautiful white flower that is only found in wet, mire-like habitats, called Grass-of-Parnassus).

We had a last fantastic look across Derwent Water from Surprise View, then went home...