Mad dogs and Englishmen

“Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the pouring rain...

I left home in pouring rain this morning to do my 6 mile walk around Tonbridge in Kent - only the English would carry on regardless, and not notice the rain lashing down and running like a river over our feet as we trudged up and down the muddy footpaths. Walking up a footpath was like walking in a stream, water flowing over the top of my hiking boots, going down the footpath was even worse, we had to be careful as it was so muddy and slippery - but the worst was still to come, when we trudged through two recently harvested farmer's field, and the mud stuck and built up a 4 inch platform onto the bottom of my boots....no grip and very slippery.

Yet it was very enjoyable. We could barely see the beautiful views, although at one point the sun did come out for about 30 minutes and we had glorious blue skies. I don't know why I even took my camera, I could hardly see to take any photos. My wet weather gear was certainly put to the test - my waterproof trousers were too short and so water got into the top of my boots, so that has to be remedied before I go to LPH in the Lake District in November - my boots would have been fully waterproof if not for that. My barbour jacket was mainly waterproof except rain got up my cuffs and the ends of my shirt sleeves got wet (it was a heavy rain!), and my iPhone, which was in my closed pocket, got wet and is no longer working. I have put it in a container filled with rice which will hopefully dry it out.

We stopped for a quick group photo...

The pub lunch at the end of our walk was delicious - guinea fowl casserole with wild mushrooms that the pub landlord said were guaranteed to give us hallucinations and make us sing all the way home!