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I won’t set out for a walk in the rain unless it’s unavoidable but I don’t mind if the rain comes on while I’m walking. In the countryside, other walkers disappear quickly when the rain comes on and so it’s easier to find a solitary spot.

This book contains four walks in different parts of the south of England. I found the first walk in Wicken Fen disappointing. It’s the sort of nature writing that just reels off what’s being observed. Without the necessary background knowledge, it’s frankly boring. I had to steel myself to continue reading but the other three walks are better, mainly because they branch off into other topics - social history, poetry, etc. - and so I found them more interesting.

There is a glossary at the back of the book of 100 terms used to describe rain in different parts of the UK. I hadn’t heard of many of them and enjoyed reading them. One - dreich, pronounced dreech and meaning bleak, miserable or grey - was recently chosen as the favourite Scots word of 2019. No wonder. It’s hardly an unusual phenomenon here. In fact, it’s been dreich a� day the day!