English Weather

"James Bond and Charles II were right - England is too warm to stay indoors, too cold to sit around and do nothing once you get outdoors.

Walking has always been our thing - from the Canterbury Tales, through to the Jarrow March and the charity walks of recent years; and walking in all weathers, too, because we know the weather's not going to be that bad.

Because the English weather is so temperate, and the landscape so accommodating, there's no need for walking clothes, luminous body socks or special shoes; except perhaps for the all-purpose wellie - a boot that strikes Americans as being tremendously odd. Why would you need wellies in town, where there is no mud, they ask; and surely you need something more professional for vigorous country hiking?".

How England Made the English by Harry Mount
Publisher: Penguin Books, 2013