You knew it would come in handy – 1

Mud and Rain in the UK

Well, you just knew that it would rain.

After all, here we were on Offa’s Dyke in the middle of Autumn approaching a stile (gate in a fence) – and there are around 700 stiles to get over or through on this walk.

The capricious showers don’t last very long, just long enough for you to put your wet weather gear on (after a 5 minute period) and then 5 minutes later they stop.

However, without the rain gear you would get thoroughly soaked. We found the best sort of rain jacket – also called an Outer Shell, is one that fits comfortably over you while you’re wearing your fleece jacket. Also make sure you get a jacket that has good Breathability. If you don’t – your perspiration will stay inside your jacket and you’ll get as wet as it is outside.

The same applies to waterproof overtrousers. If you don’t want the water to soak into your shorts or trousers, get yourself a pair of these. Make sure they have the same breathability as your jacket otherwise – your legs will get as wet as it is outside.

What about your T-shirt or First Layer clothing? For this sort of walking (especially when it rains) we are forbidding you to wear cotton during the day. Because once that cotton garment gets wet, then it’s really difficult to get dried.

Back to the walk. At this particularly muddy patch near the stile, we gloried in the mud, helped each other over the stile and continued on the track. 10 minutes later the rain stopped. We took our rain gear off and found a dry place to have some lunch.

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