Poor Sue P who was going to guide this holiday fell ill on the day it was to start - a nasty bug that put her to bed at Glaramara while women arrived over the afternoon.

After phone calls and texts between the WW office and different guides, Ali was begged out of 'retirement', and seemed delighted to be asked.

The group had meantime arrived and settled down to a good meal at Glaramara Centre. Ali arrived a little later....

Saturday's weather forecast wasn't promising so we headed up to the slightly lower Newlands fells for the chance of some cloud-free ridges.

'From a Distance', we had a great view down Borrowdale to Castle Crag but the wind and cloud increased steadily up through the mines and onto Dale Head.

A bit chilly here, and flurries of hail brought on a good appetite for lunch. For one of the group this was her first experience of walking in the cloud, and she loved it!

Robinson proved easier on the way up than down the slippery rocky section. An easier path from the small reservoir at the top of Scope Beck took us to Low Snab at the end of the Hindscarth ridge.

This was were Sue slipped and sprained her ankle. How fortunate that we were 100 m from the farm, where the farmers wife provides teas.

Three others decided they'd keep Sue company until they could be collected by car and spent the time singing and dancing to keep warm, no doubt to the amusement of the farm stock.

For the rest of the group, the 'valley' up Newlands Beck, to Dale Head tarn, proved tougher than expected and Elinors final hotcross bun was divided into 4 and devoured.

The nearer we got to Rossthwaite, the warmer the weather became. Ali went on ahead to drive round to fetch the Farm Four and Sue Penn picked up the others to save them the walk back along the road.

The group was re-united just in time for dinner, which was quite delicious and very welcome after a cold, nine hour day.

Sunday promised good weather so we took the opportunity of going high and visiting Scafell Pike, with Gaynor and Elinor practising their navigation skills.

It was one of those 'good to be alive' mornings, with the sun glinting off the snow all along the Scafell ridge, intense colours and magnificent scenery.

The Corridor Route gave us a lovely ascent and some soft snow for the last 200m.

Lunch at Scafell Pike's summit cairn - the highest place in England - then down to Broad Crag Col.

A couple of women decided their bums were better equipped than their boots for the descent, so it was even more astonishing when a fell runner ran passed us on his way up.

Gaynor took on the role of Elaine's 'personal coach' and allowed her to achieve a walk she didn't think she was capable of.

Esk Hause shelter gave us some respite from the wind for a bit more food, before heading down Grains Gill, on a very nicely made path and back to Cockley Bridge and Seathwaite.

At the tea shop, the scones fresh from the oven and some decent Yorkshire Tea, finished the day off nicely and there was even time for a shower before dinner!

Monday started cold and clear but with snow showers forecast. Sue and Elaine were able to drop us off in Buttermere before leaving for home.

A much smaller walking group took the very good path up to Red Pike and into the wind.

Fantastic views over to the Newlands Valley to the east and to Pillar and in the west, were intermittently obscured by cloud and snow showers.

Claire impressed herself descending High Crag where we passed loads of sweating people coming up from Scarth Gap.

Gaynor left us here so she would be in time for her rendezvous.

It seemed like the time pressure was off then, so we sat in the sun for a bit of lunch and joined the masses going over Haystacks.

This is a really fun hill, with a bit of scrambling and an interesting path down to Blackbeck and Innominate tarns.

Even though it's not high, it gives a good all round mountain experience and has an incredibly intimidating north face.

Time seemed to be in ever shorter supply and the deadline for reaching Honister pass (so that Claire could get her train), where we'd left a car, was in danger of being missed.

The old tramway from Dubs Hut gave us a very quick and straightforward route back to the pass and some gorgeous views over to the eastern fells, now in full sun.

We'd had a very good day out in interesting terrain and a range of weather conditions and Claire made it to her train in time - pretty good going!