Martin Hesp on Saturday

Read Martin's column every week in the Western Daily Press

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HERE'S weather and there's climate and, as we all know, there's been plenty of both over the past few days. There's also the wrong clothing, to quote Alfred Wainwright.

The old Lake District walks writer famously coined the phrase about there being no such thing as bad weather, "only unsuitable clothing", and most outdoor-types agree. But sometimes you have to admit defeat and, as I write, I have thrown in the soggy towel. Storm Goretti has been doing its worst, huffing and puffing at Cornwall before depositing large amounts of freezing rain across much of the West Country.

As a walks writer myself, I do have all the right outdoor gear, but sometimes you've just got to close the door and tell yourself there'll be plenty of other days when you can get out and enjoy the fresh air.

Why not stop indoors and celebrate the fact? There's always loads to be getting on with, and you can enjoy feeling warm and snug when the wind and rain are joining forces in a maelstrom.

My wife is not impressed by such an attitude and goes striding off into the teeth of the gale, her diminutive figure bent double as she's knocked from pillar to post by great vortexes of Atlantic wind funnelling down the valley.