A daypack is something most or all of us will have. It’s a rucksack to take all of our kit for a day in the hills, small enough to be easy to manage but sometimes big enough to carry your gear for a lightweight night out. A daypack is also general use kit carrier, you can take it to work, school, it won’t get in the way too much on a busy train and if you pick the right model it’ll also be perfect for a cycle commute. This adaptability is important to me as I do so many different…
The first thing you have to ask yourself is this; what do you want from your trousers? As odd as that might sound when you say it out loud it’s something you have to think about when looking at outdoor trousers. You can go from simple, just something to keep your legs covered to something technical with as many features and attachments as backpacking rucksack and in the review I’ve gone to both ends of that spectrum. Whatever the style you like there are still important constants to look for, the first of which is as always the fit, are…
Last month I looked at trail shoes and the best thing about doing that review was the comfort and flexibility for my feet during testing. The good news is that these are still qualities you can find in lightweight boots, even when wearing them right from the box. Although I’m a trail shoe wearer there are plenty times where boots are still the best choice, days where you want a better chance of keeping your feet dry or want a bit more protection on rough terrain. Boots may just be a better fit for you and feel right – you…
I spent my early days running around the hills in trainers carrying a cheap rucksack with a nylon cagoule and a spare jumper in it. Before I knew it I was head to toe in technical gear, with big boots on and suffering frequent attacks of buyers remorse. These days when I’m packing to head out, my gear more closely resembles what I carried all those years ago, some call it going lightweight but I think simplicity is a better description. Footwear is a big part of that and trail shoes I find come with a freedom and adaptability attached…
If you want to get off the flat and up the hills with your wee one, a child carrier is called for. But which one? David Lintern and family take a look… The adage ‘try before you buy’ is never more true than with child carriers – they are relatively expensive, have differing features, and a relatively small window of use before your little one isn’t so little anymore – so you want to get it right. And a bit like rucksacks – even if you find a retailer that stocks a variety of these to compare them properly in…
If you look through old guide books there’s a good chance you’ll see the folks in the photos wearing button-up shirts along with their hobnail boots and canvas rucksacks. Times changed, we all went over to “proper” baselayers and shirts just seemed to be something that was embroidered with an outdoor shop’s logo and worn by staff. A few years back I rediscovered shirts after a getting a test sample which I wore on hill days and backpacking trips. It was a bit of a revelation for warm weather use as it has great ventilation, you can open it to…
Base layers are something you have to get right to help make sure you’re comfortable and still smiling at the end of a long day on the hill. However, if you’re looking for something new, the proliferation of fabrics and styles claiming all sorts of outlandish benefits at scary prices might make you cling on to that holey and bobbled old crew neck for a little longer. But the news is actually good, current baselayer fabrics perform well at moisture management, odour control is something that is improving all the time in synthetic fabrics and you can get the performance…
Last December I included the Lomo Emergency Shelter as part of my winter gear round-up and it’s proved a useful bit of kit for getting out of the winter winds on the hills. Lunch can be eaten with a friend in relative comfort on a blizzard-blasted ridge, but the name on the tag isn’t lunch shelter, it says Emergency Shelter on it. I couldn’t help but wonder what a night inside it would be like. To test it properly I couldn’t just have it replace a tent, but as it was still winter conditions I couldn’t risk safety too much…
Most of my reviews on Walkhighlands have been a grouptest – a selection of similar or related items that I use and compare over time. This month is a little different with reviews of either a pair of test samples or just single items. I wanted to do backpacking test, but half a dozen tents, half a dozen sleeping bags and so on would take me months to cover so I looked at the press releases as they came in last year, looked at what was new and thought about what I would chose for myself if I was going…
Climbing the Munros has long been a mainstream activity for hillwalkers, and many also aim to climb the Corbetts (Scottish peaks from 2500 to 3000 feet high), either after completing the Munros, or at the same time. Whilst a too-keen obsession with bagging hills can blind us to the other joys that going to the mountains can bring, there seems little doubt that for many people having a list of hills to complete is a way of linking many brief days out into a single, bigger, satisfying adventure. The Grahams (peaks from 2000 to 2500 feet), though, have been the…