This is my walking kit page. I will describe the kit I use and my opinions on it.
If anyone is really interested in my full kit list and how much each item weighs, I have an Excel spreadsheet with the data in that I am happy to mail you or save to a text file for mailing. Send me a request.
To go to the piece of kit you are interested in follow the links below:
Boots Poles Gaiters Rucksacks Waterproofs Trousers Tops Underwear Hats First Aid Kit Food and Drink Other Kit Care of my kit
Most of my walking is in the Surrey hills with distances up to 20 miles / 30km. Surfaces are often uneven and either hard underfoot (anything from flint to concrete) or muddy. Weather can be anything from hot sunny days to frozen sub zero temperatures and include rain, sleet and even snow. I tend to only wear my walking kit for walks further than about five km. Anything less can be done in any kit.
First and foremost in the list of vital kit, as any soldier will tell you, is boots. I have two main pairs of walking boots: Brasher Superlites and Meindl Lhotses.
Until recently, I used my Brasher Supalites for most of my walking. They are full leather with Gore-tex between the outer and inner (leather) lining., but despite this are as light as trainers. They are damn ugly to look at in a dark chocolate colour. I take a size 11 (normal shoe is 10) to allow for 2 pairs of socks and downhills. These boots are excellent, highly recommended despite the price (I paid £120 and I have not seen them cheaper). The first walk in them (twenty five km over mainly flat land) they were supremely comfortable. However, on the second long walk, the soles of my heals hurt and ended up bruised. This seems to have been due to the footbed not really taking my weight and compressing in. I added a shock absorbing heal under the footbed and have had no further trouble. This footbed problem may also have been triggered by my dodgy joints, which can transmit a lot of shock through them until they warm up and smooth out. Further walks revealed that I occasionally get blisters under one or other (and very occasionally both) heels. These are much more common if the laces are loose. I put the whole problem down to my heel not quite fitting the Brasher heel and just keep the laces very tight. Another problem I have had with the boots is that the leather is just too thin and soft for serious mountain abuse (the Massanella, 1352m, in Majorca showed this clearly). The boots are now seriously cut up and do not repel water as well. Four and half stars, but with the added heal shock absorbers. Only the heel problem lets them down.
After sustaining a nasty knee injury in the Brecon Beacons, I had my gait tested. I walk very square on (both feet pointing straight forward), but my arches / ankle tend to collapse inwards when I am tired (pronation). I have now fitted some customised orthoses, which give must more instep support than my old Brasher footbeds.
For my birthday in January 2003, I got a pair of Meindl Lhotses to give more support and hence try to help out with my knee problems. So far, I have used them on about five day walks in the Surrey Hills and in the Peak District and they seem fine. I use my insoles with them at all times and my two pairs of socks. A size 11 fitted my perfectly. I have noticed that after a few kilometres on very uneven stony paths, I get a pain across my outer right foot. This never seems to get worse and goes if I get onto paths with more give in them or onto smoother surfaces. Time will tell if this is a real problem or just a need to bed them in.
Next in importance, I would put my walking poles as these take weight off of my knees. For walks longer than about seven km, I use my Brasher Hillmaster Classic poles. These are cork handled rather than rubber and angled slightly. They cost about £45 for the pair. I had some troubled with the straps blistering my hands at first, but this problem seems to have mostly gone away now. Recently, however, the straps are starting to wear and fold up a bit giveing me more hand troubles. I may look into replacing the straps. I didn't feel I needed the shock absorbing poles and am very pleased with my choice.
For shorter walks I take a home made wooden walking pole. This is about four feet of 3/4 to 1 inch thick hazel wood. I cut the wood myself, dried it with weights attached to keep it straight then stripped the bark and finally varnished it a few times with yacht varnish. Hazel is very light and bendy wood, so excellent for walking sticks. It also happens to be about the same dimensions as an Aikido jo…. I always take a stick as paths can often be overgrown with nettles or brambles, not to mention the odd lunatic dog that need discouraging.
Obviously, you can not take four foot wooden poles onto aircraft, so I have a Brasher Countrymaster Guide pole for use abroad on shorter walks. This has the added advantage of a screw off top, for mounting a camera. The strap is a newer design than my Hillmasters' and much comfier with some neoprene padding. Having used it in the Canary Islands, I can confirm that it is excellent for discouraging nuisance dogs.
I decided to get some gaiters after a muddy walk where the bottom of my trousers got caked in mud. Not having used them before, I decided to buy some cheap, but breathable ones. I ended up with some of Blacks own brand for about £15. The underfoot fitting is by a neoprene like strap with buckles on both sides of the gaiter. The problem was that every walk I would have to stop at some point as first one gaiter then the other loosened one end of the strap. I solved this by adjusting the gaiters for my boots and then sowing one end tight with strong thread. This has eliminated the problem and the gaiters now stay put. However, the stiching broke in the Brecon Beacons, so I have now replaced it with dental floss (yes, you read that correctly - very strong for the weight / thickness). Another minor problem is that they are difficult to fix on - the brass hook at the bottom does not want to go right down to the bottom lace on by boots, meaning the gaiters can require a lot of muscle to get them on. Once on though, they are fine. After a long walk, my trouser are always a little sweaty, so they are not wonderfully breathable. Next time, I will get some better gaiters with a Gore-tex lining.
After my experience with the long gaiters, I added some Brasher ankle gaiters. These have most of the advantages of the long gaiters in keeping the crap out of my boots, but allow my legs to breath much better. They are not very breathable, so on a day walk I take them off an lunch time to let everything dry out.
With my Meindl Lhotses, I found I could not use the older gaiters as the strap underneath was not long enough. I therefore bought some short Mountain Equipment scree gaiters. These seem to do the job fine, but they are not as breathable as I would like.
I use two main rucksacks for day walks - a 20 litre Regatta X-ert and a 45 litre Regatta Landtrekka. The Landtrekka is about 2-3 years old and the X-ert 1-2. Both were cheap (£15-20). Both have waist belts (which on the smaller bag actually sits on the waist) and chest straps. This seems to keep both rucksacks stable, although I find the smaller one too small and the bigger one a little big. I think 30-35 litre would be the ideal daypack size.
I have recently bought a 75-95 litre Lowe Alpine Liberty. This was mainly on the advice of several shops as I intend to use it for camping trips where I expect to carry 20-25kg. In the shop I loaded ten kilos into it and it felt fine. I was able to track down a nicely coloured dark green and black one, which I also got cheap (£135).
For most walking, I use a Helly Hanson pull over jacket. This is supposed to be showerproof rather than waterproof, but I have used it for two hours straight in heavy rain and stayed dry. This was bought reduced from £120 down to £30 in one of the outlet centre places. This jacket packs up small, so I tend to always take it in my pack. I do not usually use waterproof trousers.
For serious waterproofing, I have a TOG 24 waterproof suit. This is a waterproof / breathable jacket and trousers affair. It is a little too bulky to be ideal for walking. I paid about £70 for the top and trousers (reduced from £210).
I use two main pairs of trousers. Both are more summer trousers than winter, but with my walking underwear stretching down to just above my knees and my gaiters coming up to just under my knees, I find the trousers are fine for year round walking.
The first pair is a pair of green / grey Peter Storm trousers that I bought cheaply (around £20). These are nice and loose, but those of a thinner build might find them too loose. I often find trousers that fit my waist are too narrow in the thigh to fit me. The only criticism of these I have is that they are elasticated around the waist with a small black elasticated belt., which means the trousers can head south if I put much weight in the pockets. Also, they only have one thigh pocket, when I like two.
The second pair is a slightly heavier pair of zip-off Trekking trousers from TOG. I bought these reduced to £30 from £50 and have always been pleased with them. I rarely use the zip off facility, but am glad it is available to me. They take a nice heavy leather belt too.
For warm days, I have a pair of walking shorts from North Face. These are light and wickable, so are perfect for summer walks. They even manage to have two thigh pockets. There is a problem with these in that they have pilled badly after only about five washes.
Occasionally, I will wear my old DPM military trousers, which are fine until they get wet, when they start to absorb too much water.
I walk in layered clothing with underwear then shirt, then waistcoat, then fleece then waterproofs as being the full layers. Normally this is pared down to teeshirt (see underwear) in summer and up to waistcoat in winter.
The shirts I use are all Regatta X-erts. They are cheap, fully cut and wick well, so making them ideal. I have two short sleeved shirts for summer and two long sleeved for winter. The shirts are amazingly water repellent, depite having been washed several times.
On top of my shirts I often wear a Regatta X-ert waistcoat this is light and fully wickable rather than a heavy cotton affair. I use this for putting lots of kit in I want to always be on my person. Sort of like a soldier's belt kit as opposed to what goes in the bergen. I carry some basic medicines here (main kit in the rucksack), knife, mobile phone (for emergencies), torch, money / credit cards etc in the waistcoat.
On cold days, I often start walking in a fleece. I have a Polartec 200 fleece from Berghaus, which has proved to be very warm and good value at £40 (reduced from £70). If I don't need the fleece, but do need something, I sometimes wear my DPM light jacket, which is actually a cross between a heavy shirt and light jacket. It is still quite water repellent, despite being cotton.
For underwear I use wicking kit rather than normal cotton offerings as the last thing I want when walking is a sweaty cruch. I have three excellent North Face teeshirts, which double as normal teeshirts in summer and a few pairs of Field and Trek walking boxer shorts. The shorts are made of Polartec and fit snuggly down to just above my knees. I am delighted with both the top and bottom of my underwear, although I am starting to suspect that the shorts are wearing out as they seem to give less support than they did.
For socks, I use Bridgedale and Thorlo socks. A light pair for inners and a heavy pair for outer socks. On the whole, I prefer the Bridgedale inner socks (as they are quite thin) and the Thorlo outer socks (as they are thickly padded where I need them to be).
A much undervalued item. For winter walks I have a TOG 24 polartec hat, but it is often too warm even then. For the rest of the time, I have an old DPM army sun hat. It has a small brim all round (around 1.5 inches). The brim is just enough to keep rain out of my glasses, so I wear it in all weathers. It is made of cotton, but will take a two hour down pour before I get wet under it. One of the best £5 I have spent.
Recently I have bought an olive green Lowe Alpine Mountain Cap. This is waterproof, has a firm peak and a fleece lining. Not only that, but it covers my ears too. It fits closely, which makes it look a bit stupid, but on a mountain I will have warm ears. How about you?
This is a vital piece of equipment that always goes out with me. My first aid kit comprises of: Ibuprofen tablets, Terfenadine tablets (yes, I know it is banned in the UK, I get mine from Chemists in Euroland), Diocalm tablets, cough sweets, plasters, Germoline antiseptic cream, bandages, tape, scissors and tweezers. I also take a silver thermal survival bag and occasionally a bigger orange survival bag out with me.
Since passing my First Aid Certificate, I have added a face shield and a few other items more useful for me helping someone else than for my benefit.
I drink a lot when I am out walking. I work on about a litre for every 8km of isotonic drink or a litre per 6km of water. I have a Camelbak two litre holder, which slips into my rucksack. It has a tube attached for drinking on the move. It is excellent, but a pain to get clean and dry, so I only use it on serious walks (25km plus or multiday). I have recently bought a small water filter pump, which will help me carry less water, especially on long trips. For food, I prefer to carry small nibbles rather than a fixed lunch. I have a few cerial bars, a mix of dried apricots (for slow burning energy) and raisins (for a quick sugar hit) and a few packs of oatmeal biscuits for very slow burning energy. Not appetising, but it fills the hole in my stomach and keeps me marching on.
I take my GPS on most walks. It is a Garmin E-trex Summit. It eats batteries at about 2 * AA every 8-10 hours (more like 4 hours on a cold winter day). Mainly, I use it for logging the distance walked and height climbed. With a map and compass, you should rarely need it for 'where am I' information. Its one big drawback is that it works poorly in tree cover, often losing its signal when you need it most. However, on balance, I love it.
My compass is a cheap Silva item, which is a couple of years old. For maps, I usually use scanned and printed parts of OS Explorer (1:25000) maps, keeping the originals in mint condition wrapped in my rucksack (for emergencies). I find this encourages me to look at the map more often as I don't have a big unfolding job to do. I can also draw on the maps and not ruin the original. Nor does rain ruin the originals.
I always carry my Victorinox Swiss army knife set. This is a really big set (and heavy too at 400g). I have used much of it on different walks, but I still consider it to be a bit of a luxury.
Another piece of vital kit is my lighter. This is one of those gas powered jobs that do a good impression of a Bunsen burner. I can light anything with this.
My main luxury is my camera. I use a 35mm Pentax compact with a zoon lens up to 200mm.
As you can see, this all adds up to a lot of weight. Rarely do I carry less than 15kg / 35lb. Others may pare this down, but having spent a lot of time in the Brecons and North Wales when I was younger, I would rather carry more than not enough.
After a walk, I try to get as much mud off as possible from my boots before going home. Once home, I follow the old miltary way: weapon, kit, person. I wash the outsides of my boots immediately to get the mud off. Once dry I test them with a few drops of water. Most of the time the water bubbles up and rolls straight off. Occasionally the water sits on the boot, so I then use some Brasher leather boot conditioner, which looks after the boots again for a few more walks. With my Lhotses, I use Nikwax in place of the Brasher leather conditioner.
Next job on arriving home is my poles which need taking apart after a wet walk and cleaning. This I know after failing to once and getting lots of white alloy rust in them.
My gaiters get washed in running water and then left to dry.
My clothes are all washed by hand or in the washing machine (with a soap only powder and no fabric conditioner) on a low heat setting. They dry quickly if left hanging or very quickly if put on a radiator (which you are apparently not supposed to do).
I have not had to do more than sponge down my waterproofs, so I can not comment on the washing of them.
My final job is to now take a long hot bath.