Shelter

You could feel and see the weather changing as we crossed the open wet heathland of Red Rise Furze Brake towards Stag Brake, so we picked up the pace. The temperature dropped, the wind rose, the sky darkened, and as we reached Stag Brake, then the rain began to fall. Slow and light at first, though with more force as the drops got bigger and the winds picked up further. The speed of the change from clear and dry to wet and windy was swift. The brake is for the most part deciduous, so affording little shelter at this time of year, though we hunkered down at the base of a mature Scots Pine and prepared to sit the weather out. With the thick trunk at our back, facing the prevailing wind and rain, and a good sized Holly a few meters in front of us, we remained remarkably dry. We watched from relative comfort as the landscape outside was lashed. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the winds dropped the rain stopped, the sky once again cleared and we continued on our way. Had we been caught out in the open it would have been a different story, and we'd have definitely been soaked. Had this been Sesame Street, the word of the day would have been...changeable.