Walking in the rain

Grab your gaiters, your galoshes or your gum boots, it's gonna get muddy

May 01, 2024

close up of a sparse tree with branches that make it look like it has a sad face — Does the sight of grey skies make you feel as sad as this tree?

Hello walkers and writers – and welcome to our new subscribers 👋🏻

May is National Walking Month. Established by Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking, it’s designed to promote and celebrate the benefits of walking for health and wellbeing. This year, Living Streets is inviting people to add 20 minutes of walking into their day and they have a list of 20 tips to help you find ways to do that. Long term readers of The Writer’s Walk will recognise some themes we’ve covered over the last couple of years, including walking to and from work, going on a scavenger hunt, walking in colour, walking to pick up trash and walking to music, to name just a few.

Living Street’s Tip 17: Prepare for the weather, seems appropriate for this edition because it’s been a very wet winter and spring in the UK. Almost every long walk I’ve done lately has been to the sound of my boots squelching through mud, and rain splatting onto my hood. So if the sight of grey skies sends you ducking for cover then this one’s for you.

Walking

I think many of us see rainy days as an excuse to stay inside, grab a blanket and curl up with a cup of tea and a book. But walking in the rain has some surprising benefits – on our senses and wellbeing, and on the atmosphere.

Have you ever noticed that the air feels fresher when it rains? That’s because rain can help to clear the air of pollutants. Researchers at MIT studied how raindrops can attract particles like soot and other pollutants, helping to sweep them out of the atmosphere – a natural phenomenon called coagulation1. They carried out controlled experiments in a lab to calculate the ability of a droplet to attract particles from the air, depending on its size and the rate it fell. And they found that the smaller the droplet, the more likely it was to attract a particle. They’re hoping that their findings can help address issues such as air quality and human health, as well as the effect of clouds on climate. So maybe a drizzly day isn’t as bad as we thought!

Have you noticed that earthy smell when it rains? It’s called petrichor – named by Isabel Bear and RG Thomas, 2 researchers who published an article about it in Nature journal in 19642. Petrichor is a combination of fragrant chemical compounds. Some come from oils made by plants, and some from bacteria that help to decompose dead and decaying matter into nutrients for plants and other organisms. The smell is a byproduct of this activity and is caused by a molecule called geosmin3.

The petrichor scent is released when rain falls on dry, dusty ground. The raindrops trap tiny air bubbles on the ground which then shoot upwards – a bit like the bubbles in a glass of champagne4.

Bear and Thomas discovered that what they called petrichor was being captured and sold as a scent called "matti ka attar" in Uttar Pradesh, India. And these days geosmin is a common perfume ingredient.

Bringing the rain indoors with a scented candle

But as well as its potential cleansing benefits on the environment and the smell of petrichor, rain enables us to touch the weather in a way that a dry day might not. The feel of raindrops on our skin, the sound of rain landing on trees, the earth or on us, and the smells that are released from plants, trees and soil. A rain walk is a treat for the senses.

There’s no rainbow without a bit of rain

But the thing I enjoy most about walking in the rain is its effect on my sense of hearing, and how it can quieten a busy city like London, or add a new quality to the sounds in a forest.

Sound has a different texture in the rain. Cities become muffled, car tires hush across tarmac, gutters gurgle and transform into rivulets. The sound of rain falling against an umbrella is different from the sound of rain falling on a hat or a hood. Hard surfaces like car roofs, bus shelters, rubbish bins and windows transform into drums as the rain plays out different beats and rhythms. And maybe it’s just me, but it feels like London is friendlier in the rain. There are fewer people out walking, and I exchange more smiles with strangers when it rains than in any other kind of weather.

So for your walk this time, I invite you to pull on your waterproofs and take a sensory walk in the rain. Watch how young children make the most of it, splashing and jumping through puddles and generally having fun. Is there a rule that says adults can’t play in puddles? Not as far as I know – and isn’t that exactly what wellies were invented for?

You can also try walking slowly and listening to your footsteps on the ground, the splash of raindrops on your coat or umbrella, and the feel of them against your skin. Take a few moments to breathe deeply to get the most of the cleaner air and to enjoy the smell of petrichor.

Here are some tips for walking in the rain:

Check the weather forecast and plan your walk – you might start your walk in the rain but find yourself covered in sunshine by the end of it – or vice versa.
Check your route before you set off – if it’s a familiar walk you might know the places that tend to flood. But if you’ve never walked it before it’s good to get advice from people who know the route well, walk with someone who knows it, or check the map for areas that look like they might flood in heavy rain, or become too risky to walk near in bad weather, like rivers, streams, marshlands and coastal paths.
Make sure you have the right clothes – waterproof walking boots or wellies, a waterproof jacket and trousers, and a hat, gloves, scarf and warm layers if it’s cold.
Carry a spare pair of socks – it’s miserable walking with wet feet so if your boots let in the rain, having a fresh pair of dry socks might save the day.
Carry a torch or headlight – even a fairly bright day can turn dark when a storm begins to brew.
Keep your sunglasses handy too – the weather can change and you never know if or when the sun might make an appearance. You gotta be ready for those rainbows.
Carry a couple of bags to put your wet gear into if the rain stops and you take your waterproofs off – it’ll help keep the rest of your stuff dry.
Be prepared to find another route if the path is flooded or turn back if there’s no safe way to get around it – you can always go back on a drier day.
Have fun – as far as I can tell, there’s no rule that says adults can’t jump in puddles or splosh in the mud, so unleash your inner child and go play!

Writing

Your prompt this time is inspired by the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which challenges people to write an atrocious opening sentence to the worst novel never written.

The contest is inspired by, and honours, Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel Paul Clifford begins with “It was a dark and stormy night.”

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Depending on how you look at it, this is either one of the worst opening lines of a book, or one of the very best. So once you’ve dried off from your walk, try the Bulwer-Lytton approach to an opening sentence.

The rules are super simple:

Your opening line must consist of a single sentence.

It can be any length but the contest organisers recommend writing no more than 50 or 60 words.

I’ve entered it couple of times but so far I haven’t won. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing!

As ever, I enjoy hearing your stories so please let me know how you found this walking and writing idea. And good luck with the contest – you have until 30 June to enter.