The messenger’s delay

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

The messenger stopped beneath the church porch to shelter from the rain. His boots had split at the toes, and the road beyond the village had become a channel of mud. He checked the folded note inside his coat. It remained dry. When the rain eased, he tightened his belt and set off again, choosing the longer path beside the wall because its stones gave his feet a firmer surface.

Give two difficulties the messenger faces on his journey.