I was teaching a father and son bushcraft course on Wednesday. The little boy was only five years old, but one of the best behaved students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching! It was a 6 hour course, relatively short, but we managed to cover the basics in that time. The weather was on our side, which was good, but later on that day was a very different story indeed!
I was asked to help out on a wildlife evening at a local nature reserve, focusing on owls and owl behaviour. Fifty people turned out for this event, and once they were all seated in the visitor centre, I had some free time on my hands. I did my usual and had a little read about this and that. Anyway, it was about 10pm when the night finished, and it was my job to open the doors and turn the outside lights on, which light the way to the car park, situated about one or two minutes walk away. It was pitch-black and these lights just would not work, so I decided to grab a torch and do the only decent thing, escort each and every person to their cars. An easy task you might think, but at that moment the rumbles of thunder began and the heaviest downpour and lightning storm I have seen in many a year decided to descend upon us. Needless to say I was absolutely soaked, which was refreshing after the cloying humidity. The rain came battering through the tree canopy and at one point was coming down so hard and evaporating so quickly that all I could see were clouds of white steam with the golden glow of the distant education centre huddled amongst the trees. Once I got back I watched the lightning illuminate the massive body of reservoir water from the window; it literally turned the surface of all 26 billion gallons purple.
I do love a storm, and what with the predications of climate change it’s something that will probably become more common. I would have loved to have taken a picture, but it was just too wet. So instead I will leave you with an image I risked life and camera for two years ago.
Catch you on the trail
Kris
