It's been a real mix of weather for my week off, and because of it I haven't been able to make any concrete walking plans, instead relying on forecasts that seem to change by the hour. After this morning's rain the afternoon was set to brighten, particularly in the east of the district, so I set my sights on walking Dollywaggon Pike and Helvellyn via Raise Beck. It's a route that, as far as I can remember, I've never walked in this direction and I was quite looking forward to the climb alongside Raise Beck, which I usually only ever descend. I left home just after 10am and treated myself to a McDonald's breakfast after filling up with fuel, then set off north for Dunmail Raise. I hit the usual traffic while driving through Ambleside, but it didn't slow me down, and I arrived at the lay-by south of Dunmail Raise just before midday. Parts of the A591 were still overflowing with rainwater, especially through Rydal and on the rise to Dunmail something that caught me off guard after weeks without rain.

I parked easily next to the familiar AA box and by 12pm I was ready to leave, only this time I'd added my windproof. Despite temperatures reaching the mid-teens, it was pretty gusty. A narrow path led me through calf-high bracken, and underfoot the ground was saturated and glistening in the intermittent sunshine. By the time I began my ascent beside Raise Beck, the backs of my legs were soaked, as were my boots. It's a steady and sometimes steep ascent, accompanied by the overpowering noise of Raise Beck just feet away to my left. Something I should have picked up on was just how much water was cascading down the beck but I didn't, more on that later. Up ahead I spotted two walkers ascending the rock slabs beside the falls, who stopped midway up, and I passed them shortly after. They turned out to be an elderly couple, completely transfixed by the falls and unaware of me passing by. The gradient eased, and soon Dollywaggon Pike came into view as I was still deciding which way I was going to ascend: the devilishly steep route beside the wall, or the paved zigzags.

I remember some time ago watching a solo walker ascend Dollywaggon Pike via the stone wall in the same time it took me to descend Seat Sandal, and thinking, "perhaps it's not as steep as I remembered." But it's worth reminding myself that this ascent is possibly up there with one of the steepest in Lakeland and to add insult, it's one false summit after another. So I chose the latter and went with the zigzags instead. It was here, just as my boots were starting to dry out that they became up to their eyelets in bog water and mud again. My left boot was totally caked in the stuff, which I thankfully managed to swill clean when I crossed a stream.

I left Nethermost Pike and noticed two girls in ascent behind me, but the same distance was kept and I reached Helvellyn's cross shelter at the same time as a stream of walkers who had just traversed Striding Edge. All of a sudden, the summit got busy again. I made straight for the summit cairn, where my nostrils caught the absolutely horrid smell of someone smoking weed. A wave of annoyance hit me and yes, I couldn't help but think what Wainwright or Griffin would make of it but I buried it there and left the summit cairn.

After passing the fourth walker somewhere along the top of Birk Side, I began my descent via the stone staircase, passing a young girl taking her time where I stopped to ask, "Hi, you ok?" She replied shyly that she was, but I could tell her descent lacked confidence, and whenever I could I kept checking back to make sure she was alright. further down, the fifth walker had disappeared into the treeline above the forestry path,

I descended onto the forestry path where the sun pierced through the canopy, making the walk feel like a day of two halves or at least the afternoon did. and passed the lad who'd run down the zigzags, along with his mate who had always been one step ahead of me. "Your mates should be descending Birk Side by now not long," I said. "Cheers, pal," he replied. The forestry path was delightful: hot sunshine, flowing water directly off the fell side and intermittent views of Helm Crag's Howitzer through the trees line. The canopy broke as I reached the footbridge over Birkside Gill, and once again my ears were treated to the sound of cascading water. I crossed the bridge taking in two waterfalls and joined the permissive footpath back to Raise Beck.

Raise Beck was in full white-water flow just as it had been four hours earlier. I checked that I was in the right position at the ford which I confirmed but the trouble was the water was so rapid I couldn't see a way across. I climbed further up the hillside, but what had looked like possible crossing points from below turned out to be more fast-flowing water or deep pools. Jesus, I can almost see my bloody car from here, but I can't cross the beck it's just too damn fast. My frustration grew as I climbed higher up the bank before returning to my original position at the ford. I could cross, but it meant descending over wet, polished rock where cascades were pooling into deep jagged water pools. I tested the flow with my walking pole, keeping it strapped around my wrist the water tugged at it hard enough that, had it not been attached, it would've been in Thirlmere within five minutes.

The crossing wasn't dangerous; the worst that could happen was slipping into a deep pool up to my knees. I had to build my confidence and trust a pair of boots I don't normally wear in wet conditions their Contragrip soles no match for the Vibram soles on my Meindl's or AKU's. Putting my weaker leg on the polished wet rock, my left pole in the pool and the other on the opposite rock, I crossed the cascade in one stride and gripped the rock, pulling myself over the bank and onto dry grass. Looping both poles back around my wrists, I joined the path, wading through knee-high bracken once again, accompanied by the sound of traffic travelling over the top of Dunmail Raise and a heartbeat that had just about returned to normal!