A Quick Word about Gear

Please be aware that the following is NOT an endorsement of any brand, retailer or product. Merely a statement of how we kitted out the kids on a budget.

I’ll be the first to admit it. I LOVE GEAR, or kit or whatever you want to call it. I can spend ages reading the kit reviews in magazines or looking through the racks of our nearest outdoor supplier. My problem is that it’s all so expensive. I know, “You get what you pay for” but I can’t justify paying £100+ on a jacket while I’ve got kids to provide for.

However that doesn’t mean we don’t try to kit the kids out decently for our adventures because if they’re warm, dry and comfortable their less likely to moan. Even in the rain. Before our first big adventure to climb Snowdon we tried to get them the basics at a fair price and slowly built on that. So here is a little list along with a rough idea of what we paid for the stuff. So far it’s worked out fine.

• Boots. These came from Mountain Warehouse in the sale at around £15 a pair. Kids being kids, they have grown out of the original pairs but these have been replaced with hand me downs (Lil now has Ev’s) a pair found in the charity shop and another pair from the same store. (For Isaac who doesn’t quite fit into Lil’s old ones)
• Trousers. We put them in leggings for our first big hikes and they have really worked well. If they do get wet, they dry really quickly. I think we got some from Sports Direct for about £3 a pair. In the winter they can put their padded waterproofs over them for extra warmth.
• Tops. They each had a new wicking base layer to help keep them comfortable. Again about £3 from Sports Direct. Fleeces they already had or came from the local charity shops.
• Coats/Waterproofs. I did buy them new coats, again Sports Direct were pretty good, they had either Gelert or Karrimor waterproof coats at about £12 each. I got them in gender neutral colours so they can handed down.
• Hats and Gloves they already had.

So there you go. I feel we’ve kitted them out pretty well at affordable rates. They’re always comfy, generally dry and rarely complain about being cold. Job done.