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I am a big fan of walking in the rain, there are a number of reasons; My dog hates the rain, it is very rare to see another person, the place seems to come alive, colours are more vivid and it is exhilarating to have walked in a storm. A couple of walks I remember well was an 8mile charity walk when my daughter was a cub, it poured it down the whole time, my waterproofs became saturated and clothes underneath soaked through, the second we got back to the car the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came out, typical! The second walk was on the Brecon beacons, coming down a mountain visibility became zero and we experienced some of the biggest drops of rain ever, my daughter hated it, but got through it by laughing at me as I was carrying the rucksack and kept falling over.

In this book Melissa Harrison has decided to spend a year getting wet by hiking in the rain and to see why people avoid it. She sees a whole new world, especially when the rain stops for a bit and the birds appear from nowhere to make the most of the break. This line sums it up perfectly:

"it seems to me that if you only ever go out on sunny days you only see half the picture, and remain somehow untested and callow"

There is a nice selection of topics covered here, different types of rain, misty being the worse I reckon, nature, science of weather and history of some pretty impressive storms. Also included are some quotes from poets/writers that have been inspired by the rain. This is a lovely little book and I highly recommend you read it and then go for a walk in the rain.

I spotted this in the glossary which made me laugh:

"Scotch mist: the kind of fine rain a Scotsman will barely notice but which will wet an Englishman to the skin"