Traditionally, the first post of a new year would be my Christmas Adventure With Tom but that’s waiting for Thursday this year because today I want to make a post for the Resolutioners: how to get into walking
A New Year lockdown hasn’t been announced as at time of writing but we can all feel it looming on the horizon. When it inevitably comes, it’ll combine with the usual New Year good intentions, people wanting a fresh start after 2020 and one thing people are going to start thinking about is getting outside and going walking. And if the last year is anything to go by, apparently I can help there.
This post covers the basics: what do I need to own/buy (spoiler: not much!), how do I know where to start and how can I take it further?
What do I need to get outside?
If you read outdoors magazines or books or blogs, you’ll be under the impression you need thousands of pounds worth of specialist clothing and equipment. You don’t. Sure, you need really good, really expensive boots if you’re planning a high altitude mountain expedition like climbing Everest or K2, but for everyone else, you’re probably ok with what you’ve already got. What you need is a pair of reasonably solid shoes that you don’t mind getting muddy. They don’t need to be boots – honestly, a pair of supermarket trainers will do the job 90% of the time, particularly for beginners. Go for laces if possible. Velcro will do in a pinch but shoes that are good and secure on your feet are by far the best. Laces great, slip-on terrible, as a rule of thumb. Wellies are wonderful and waterproof and some people can walk for days in them. If you can, excellent. I personally cannot.
A waterproof jacket is a handy thing as well, and while you can spend hundreds on a good mountain jacket, anything that’ll keep most of the rain off you will do the job, especially if you’re the kind of person who generally enjoys the outdoors in good weather. I’m mostly a fair-weather outdoors person and that’s fine. You’re supposed to be enjoying it, not competing in a “who can endure the worst to prove how tough and outdoorsy they are” competition. Again, supermarket-quality is fine. I’ve mostly been using a raincoat from Primark this year. No good for serious mountain conditions; fine for the kind of daily walks that have become the norm.
Your other clothes are fine. Don’t wear jeans if it’s raining or going to rain – they get very cold and they take a very long time to dry and walking in wet jeans will just make you cold and miserable and probably decide never to go outside ever again. Tracksuits, leggings, whatever you like, they’re perfect. Whatever you might wear to the gym, if you’re more of a gym person. Ordinary t-shirts are fine too – I own a couple of technical tops but 99 times out of 100, I’ll just wear an ordinary t-shirt. Hoodies are great, fleeces are even better. Wear layers – you can pile them on for warmth and you can take them off to cool down.
If you want to upgrade your equipment – and you don’t have to, as I’ve already said – I’m not the person to tell you the technical details of the really good stuff. I don’t know them. For casual outdoors types like me and you, you don’t need the really good stuff, the technical & expensive stuff. Anyone who tells you that you do is trying to get money out of you.
So the very first thing I’d recommend, even before upgrading your jacket or shoes, is waterproof trousers. You can sit down in damp muddy places without getting wet & dirty, you can go out in bad weather, they’ll add protection from the cold as well as the wet. They’re magnificent and they’re severely underrated.
If you do ever get to the point that you want to buy proper hiking footwear, go to your local outdoors store and try some on. I really like Cotswold but it’s one of the more expensive shops so I also really like Go Outdoors, which isn’t. Both of them are staffed mostly by people who know what they’re talking about, who will be able to advise you on the right sort of footwear for your needs and fit them correctly. As I said, the expensive ones are necessary if you’re doing a high-altitude expedition but for someone like me, and probably like you, anything they have in that kind of shop will do the job you want and it’s just down to what feels good on your feet. Cheaper brands like Peter Storm, Karrimor and Hi-Tec are just as good for me as any of the more expensive brands – the mountain sandals I had from 2005 to 2018 were Hi-Tec and my current walking boots are Karrimor. The only more expensive brand I know much more about is that my mountain boots are Mammut and they’re quite a narrow fit. I don’t know if that’s a general thing across all their footwear but it might be worth keeping in mind.
Leather vs fabric is an age-old argument. Leather is tougher and more waterproof but it’s also less breathable and takes a lot more breaking-in and maintenance, which is why I personally prefer fabric. Fabric also tends to be cheaper than leather and is often waterproofed with either a membrane or a coating, or both. Ultimately, it’s down to what you like and what feels comfortable to you and there’s no right answer. The same goes for boots vs shoes – do you think a gentle squeezing around the ankle feels supporting or restrictive? I have a pair of trail/approach shoes that I mostly wear for my daily walks and the boots only really come out if I’m going somewhere muddy, mountainous or to Dartmoor.
If you want to upgrade your waterproof jacket, anything from any outdoors shop will do the job. Taped seams seal up the needle holes so there’s no leaking. Unzippable underarm vents make you feel less boiled-in-the-bag and of course, covered or otherwise protected zips both down the front and on the pocket will keep you and your stuff dry. Every company has a different name for its own waterproof membrane, so look for a capitalised word ending in -ex. The higher the number attached to that name, the more waterproof but also the less breathable, so you’ll become damp from condensating your own sweat. My jacket is Isotex 5000 which is quite a low rating but in the past I’ve found my jacket more waterproof than the “proper” waterproofs worn by the few mountain professionals of my acquaintance. It was also only £32 – it’s not a particularly high-tech or expensive jacket anyway but it’s in one of last season’s colours – such a stupid way to get outdoors kit at reduced prices. Even regardless of price, you may want to take colour into consideration – do you want to blend into the scenery so as to not frighten the wildlife or do you want to be easily visible for safety? There’s no right answer here either, that’s a question for you to decide.
How do I know where to go?
Have you explored your own area? Have you walked to the top of your road and continued for ten minutes and then turned left into a street you’ve never seen before? That’s a really good way to get started with going outdoors. Within ten minutes of my house, I’ve found a row of allotments which I’ve used to watch the seasons change before my eyes this year, an alleyway with at least six different cats to make friends with, a patch of urban woodland and a twelfth century leper chapel. Particularly during a lockdown when you’re not supposed to be travelling anywhere, your own square mile probably has a lot more to offer than you’ve realised. Find a bench in a park and sit on it. Maybe you’ll see some birds. Take a notebook and a biro and sketch things, whatever catches your eye, no matter how mundane. Get to know your outdoors.
If you want to go a bit further afield, you can try your local tourist information centre. They often have leaflets with local walking trails, maybe even a small book, which might point you in the direction of bigger trails. Next up, your local bookshop will almost certainly have a selection of books on your local area which will include walking routes. “Pub walks around [your town]” and the like are always a good bet – a walk followed by a nice cold pint or a good hearty meal is a joy, plus pubs often have car parks. Finding somewhere to park is often the first difficulty on a country walk. These little books will probably include a small map to give you an idea of the way but it probably won’t be to scale, so you don’t need to worry about compasses and navigation. More importantly, it’ll describe the route in terms of “walk to the end of the field, go through the gate” etc.
If those books point you in the direction of a local long-distance trail – the South West Coast Path for me, maybe the Thames Path or the Pennine Way for you – that trail will probably have a website. The SWCP website includes printable pages of various sections, day walks circulating around pubs or views, rated by difficulty, and I daresay other trails have something similar.
If you don’t want to go out on your own, there’ll be a local walking group somewhere. Try the Ramblers – of course, I don’t know about your local area but mine has regional groups that tend to walk during the day when people like me are at work and a Young Ramblers group that tends to walk at weekends. You might find your local group welcoming and willing to help you along, or you might find them cliquey and not delighted to “keep to the pace of the slowest member of the group”. But finding a group you can walk with is a great thing for a beginner, even if you have to try a few out and even if you only stick with them long enough to find your own feet.
How do I get better at it?
Primarily, practice. Start small, start short, start low. Make sure you’re enjoying it, you’re not pushing yourself too much and making it a hated chore or a resented bit of exercise. As you get more experienced, you can walk further, you can explore me, you can take on harder terrain. You might find you get more comfortable looking at maps and maybe you can start to invent your own routes or get bigger or better maps.
If you want to take your skills a bit further, I’ll be writing a basic guide to using an OS map and a compass at some point but there’s nothing like going outside with someone who knows what they’re talking about, spending a weekend, or several weekends, learning how to navigate in a real bit of wilderness. Your walking group might be helpful here. I’d be tempted to run a few weekends myself if it seemed worth spending out on the qualifications.
I’ve done two courses and several walking weekends with Girlguiding, who have a handful of active walking groups around the country populated by a mix of newcomers like me and qualified long-term Mountain Leaders who like the company while walking in the hills and also the chance to pass on their knowledge. Signing up as a volunteer with the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, helping with expeditions, will probably expose you to some of the basics and get you pointed in the direction of further training. As a bonus, volunteering opportunities like that will also look nice on your CV.
If you’re looking for a commercial provider, Mountain Training is probably the gold standard in the UK and their Hill Skills course might be what you’re after. It generally lasts about a weekend, occasionally up to five days, and it’s designed for absolute beginners to give you the skills and confidence to enjoy hill walking on your own. Cost varies by provider but it looks like the average is about £130. Let me remind you that you don’t need expensive training, or any training at all to get outside but if it all feels terrifying and you’d like a professional to show you how to do it, this is an option available to you.
But ultimately, all you really need to get into walking and into the outdoors is a pair of shoes you don’t mind getting muddy, a waterproof jacket, a couple of hours occasionally to go out and explore and enough enthusiasm to want to do it.