Intially I had planned to walk Fairfield from Grasmere but the forecast favoured the north of the district so I drove to Mungrisdale to walk Blencathra via Bannerdale Crags east ridge and I was a tad surprised to find it was bucketing it down from the moment I arrived. I had a good signal so I checked both the Met Office and BBC forecasts both (for a change) forecasts sunny intervals from 9:00am and into the afternoon, as did the mountain forecast. My wipers said different.

Another car arrived and while I waited for it to stop raining I watched the owner kit up using the tailgate of his car as a shelter before setting off towards the village in full waterproof gear, I sighed how the hell can the forecasters get it so wrong so many times it seemed to be the story of my week off, anyway, I waited another ten minutes until the rain lightened and began my own kit up, I never expected to start todays walk wearing a waterproof jacket. With the car locked I set off towards Mungrisdale and it wasn't long before the skies darkened and the rain began to fall heavier, proper Lakeland rain that arrived in vertical sheets.

I'm really fond of the horizontal path that leads back to Low Beckside with its smooth grass flanked by bracken now on the turn on both sides. Watched on by grazing sheep I reached the bottom of the path when I was passed by a fell runner and we shared a hi before she sped off before coming back into view as she opened the gate on the road below. A minute later I too passed through the gate completely dry now and blessed in wall to wall sunshine. I was over heating but with just minutes before I reached the car I kept my layers on swapping the beanie back to my baseball cap; if anything to hide the embarrassment of my hat hair.

The parking spaces had filled up since I had left but there was no one around with the exception of a passing odd car. As I had during my descent I soaked up the views enjoyed the warm sunshine forgetting how miserable and wet I'd felt this morning. I left the old road for Low Beckside passing beneath a coppice of trees with the Glenderamackin flowing below. Ahead the single span footbridge where I crossed the Glenderamackin for the last time but instead of reaching the other side I stood in the centre of the bridge focusing on the glints of sunlight as it shimmered across the black water below.