Church's Brogues

Rather stupidly, I only brought one pair of shoes with me to Rathlin, a very heavy pair of tan brogues by Church and Company. I bought them in Austin Reed's shop almost thirty years ago. Austin Reed had a small branch in Belfast at the entrance to Queen's Arcade in Donegall Place.

Despite being fairly well prepared for the worst weather, with Peter Storm leggings, waterproof cap etc, the shoes were unable to withstand a sustained period of heavy rain out in the field. It took ages for them to dry out; in fact I put them on top of the radiator in my bedroom overnight!

Today I spent half an hour using the age-old Spit-and-Polish technique, which appears to have restored them to a perfectly acceptable state again:-