Rain. Mud. No dragons.

A dragon update well overdue. Anton has been straying into writing and has a host of bizarrely Tolkeinesque material which will appear here soon. Meanwhile I spoke to the guys at Southern Counties radio and have to urgently edit down the soundfiles we have of the dragon walk. I will soon make some of these sound files available as a teaser on this site. So stay tuned dragon fans!

Anton wanted to trace a part of our route which from which we took a detour last time. We set off for a station in the mud somewhere and walked for a few hours without stopping in steady unremitting rain. Fortunately we passed a shop where I could buy some waterproof overtrousers. Not our best ever walk, our route being blocked by a fenced off bridge, and paths that had been closed. However, there were few people about and there is a grim enjoyment to trudging in the fresh air in an unremitting deluge.

Terrifying moment towards the end of the walk. An enormous and savage Alsatian dog came rushing at us barking and displaying its incisors. Fortunately it made straight for Anton who, being frozen with terror, looked fairly bleak. I pressed on bravely, muttering words of encouragement until the dog bounded off briefly to fetch the two other Alsatians that were baying in the distance. Anton sped across the field as if all the hounds of hell were after him, and once we'd got through a gate, white with shock, he started ungratefully blaming me.

Eventually we called a halt after finding a pub in a village near Horley, as Anton said, with some feeling, that he needed a drink. It was marvellous to briefly escape the rain and drink a couple of beers before getting a taxi to the station.

Below Anton and a sign, a wet country lane, lichen, some farm houses, a meadow, a strange old bridge, and how it sculpted the rainflooded river.