Here are ten useful tips to amaze your friends from various experts concerning walking in all sorts of weather:

 

  • If you’ve lost the path and have a dog with you, wait for your four-legged friend to pick up the trail. Dogs will often follow human footprints and so even if you don’t know where the path is you can be fairly sure your dog does.
  • Check your compass straight after purchase to ensure it points north. Compasses can be distorted by items including magnetic tags and scanners, and if it doesn’t point in the right direction it is useless.
  • Crush the leaves of an elderberry bush and either place them in the pockets of your clothing or rub them over your body for a natural insect repellent.
  • The use of walking poles can reduce the stress on your legs by as much as 20%, according to the latest research, so always take them – you never know when you’ll need them
  • For a rough estimate of how much daylight you have left, hold your hand out at arm’s length and see how many fingers you can fit between the horizon and the sun. Each finger represents about fifteen minutes of sunlight
  • Mars Bars will freeze solid when it’s really cold, but Cadbury’s crème eggs stay soft and gooey for much longer – so no need to lose that filling.
  • Baking Soda sprinkled in boots can make them smell fresher.
  • Folding gear creates lines of weakness on the fabric, but stuffing gear means you never create the same folds and so the gear does not crack along them. Folding sleeping bags places the same stress on the internal baffles, but stuffing spreads the load.
  • It is an ‘urban’ myth that the best way to stay warm in a sleeping bag is to take all your clothes off so your body heat can warm the insulation more efficiently. If you are cold, then add a hat, gloves, socks, base layer and even a jacket if required.
  • When stopping to rest, don’t lean on your trekking poles. Leaning forward compresses the lungs and makes it harder to breathe. To get the real benefit from a break, sit down to give your legs a break and keep your body upright to get the air into your lungs.