Walking in the rain

It's a fair bet that during my 50 day walk next Spring there'll be days of drizzle and downpours. So when I woke this morning and saw a leaden sky and steady rain I thought it would be a good time to experiment with rainwear.

I nipped into town and picked up some Berghaus overtrousers (£59.99) and a Berghaus rain hat (£29.99). The trousers were a planned buy and the hat more of an impulse. (I think it might be an impulse that I'll rue).

I walked into Wigston and back to pick up a box of crickets for our pet lizard, so had seven soggy miles to test out my new wet weather gear. The overtrousers went on easy enough and weren't too long in the leg either. The combination of light regular trousers and the overtrousers was warm and comfortable on a chilly day when the temperature only reached 5C.

The hat, though, was less of a success. To be fair, it was completely waterproof and the peak generally kept rain off my face and glasses. The lining is substantial and I appreciated the way that my ears were kept warm. But the shape of the hat led to rain dripping into the collar of my coat. Worse, the hat constantly rode forward, so that the peak pushed onto my glasses and my view was restricted. So after an hour, I swapped hats and used the light and generously-brimmed sunhat that I'd stowed in my daypack. This was more chilly around the ears, but it was good to be able to hear what was going on around me. Walking briskly meant that I was plenty warm enough, so there was no problem in losing the warm lining of the Berghaus.

When I Walk Home next year, I may have to take both hats but at the moment, I'm inclined to think that the sunhat could work well on all occasions.

Yesterday, my friend Derek came to church in a Tilley sunhat . It's similar to mine but looked as if it was better made. He wears it in the rain and it seems to work for him.