Today’s Useful Travel Item is one of my smallest items of clothing and the one lost most often – well, second most often. First place goes to my merino liner gloves. As I write this, I don’t know where either windshirt or gloves are. Oh yes, this small and easily-lost item of clothing is my windshirt.
(A quick rummage of my outdoors crate has revealed the gloves, which have moved into a new home in my pyrography drawers. The windshirt is still missing but I know I had it less than three weeks ago so it can’t have gone far.)
Anyway. My windshirt is an ultra-thin ultra-lightweight pull-on shirt-style thing that blocks out the wind. Not all of it but enough to help keep me warm. It folds up into its own inside pocket, scrunching up to the size of my fist, which is why I keep losing it, but it also means it’s so easy to shove in a side pocket or even in my own pocket when I’m out and about. No excuse to not have it with me.
Because it’s so small and thin and light, it’s for wearing as an under-layer. At least, I assume it is. That’s how I wear it. It does looks a bit insane to take off half my clothes in bad weather, put this thing on over a t-shirt and then put a fleece and then rest of my clothes over it because it does look a bit like a waterproof. And it is waterproof. But it’s waterproof in the same way that a tent is – ie, if you touch the inside, the water leaks through, and I’ve never found a way of wearing anything without touching the inside. I wouldn’t dream of wearing it as a waterproof. But it works well as a windproof layer a few layers down. Also, it protects it – it’s so thin and light and delicate that I worry about it getting worn and damaged. A few layers over the top keep it safe.
It has a drawcord to pull the hem tight and a high collar with a drawcord at the back to seal it around your neck. I literally cannot stand things touching my throat so I never do it up this high and I almost certainly lose a good chunk of wind protection but the alternative is neither fun nor pretty. It has a quarter zip down the front – actually, it goes about halfway down and there’s a mesh pocket on the inside. I never put anything in there because the windshirt itself goes in there.
It’s a Rab Cirrus Pull-on, if you’re interested. I don’t think they make them anymore and all the windshirts I’ve found recently have full zips and mostly have hoods too. Mine is too basic for that, which makes it lighter and smaller and to be honest, much as I like hoods, it gets irritating (and rubs against the broken connections in my brain) when I have too many clashing hoods sticking out the back of my neck.
You’ll know if I’ve found it, by the way, if there are any pictures of it lying on a white blanket in this post.