Umbrellas for walkers

We walked through the Odenwald forest on Sunday. It was wet. A slow moving cold front dropped  several litres per square metre of rain on the Odenwald. We had bought two Euroschirm (www.euroschirm.com) telescopic trekking umbrellas earlier this year after leaving one old gamp on a train and having another invert itself on the same day. This was their first taste of action. We were both impressed. We unlike others in the party with capes and rain jackets were reasonably dry by the end of the day.

Aldi outdoor clothing

According to the CTC magazine "Cycle" ALDI stores will be having an cycling gear sale or action event on 29 June 2014. There is nothing to stop a walker wearing a cyclists' wind- and waterproof jacket bought for under £10. The shops open early and are likely to be sold out quickly. Set your alarm.

Rohan Waterproof Trousers

We went walking in the Odenwald in February. The winter was warm and at this time it had been fairly wet, so the paths were muddy and so were our boots. It started to rain. We still had an hour to go before lunch. The question was, should we put our waterproof over trousers? Our boots were muddy. There was nowhere to sit and so we would have to put them on standing up. It would take too long and the rest of the party wanted to go on. We went over trouser-less. We arrived at the pub dry above the waist, but looking like we had been wading in the Rhine below the waist.
The moral of this story is we need a pair of waterproof trousers that resemble normal trousers, so you don't need to slip on over trousers to stay dry.  I was highly pleased to read in the Rohan catalogue/newsletter that Rohan had produced just such a pair: Dry Explorer and Dry Requisite. Unfortunately Rohan doesn't send us its gear to test and the nearest Rohan shop is in Canterbury, Kent, an 8 to 9 hour drive away, so we will have to wait until we next go to the UK to check out these trousers. I'll probably wait until Rohan sell the rest of this year's models off in November or so to buy a pair. However Rohan's descriptions are normally honest and it is claimed that the trousers are waterproof, so it is probably true. We sent a couple of spies to Manchester to check out the trousers in the store there. Their report: "We have been to Rohan in Manchester  - the waterproof trousers look and feel great but take 8 hours to dry after washing and are £95 to buy. They do not look like the usual waterproof trousers, just like ordinary material ( eg:- wool or cotton ), that is very good."

More Aldi walking gear

I bought a new merino vest from Aldisüd (Germany) recently, an undershirt not a waistcoat. It cost about 20 €, which in comparison to the prices charged by more mainstream outdoor shops is a gift. It has been worn both in the field and on our normal day to day mooching about. It has been regularly washed in a machine and is showing no signs of wear. Although the winter was mild we had a few wet and cold days and we chose one of these to be out and about. No clothing in our price range is completely waterproof under those conditions. Although my waterproof had leaked water onto my shirt thanks to the ALDI vest my core was still warm. I can recommend the vests highly

Aldi walking gear

Some time ago I was amused to see a note on the BikeRadar blog about ALDI's cycling gear. Our outdoor cupboards show lots of Crane labels. We have bought both cycling and walking gear from ALDI-Sued over the last few years. The gear is excellent. I have recently acquired a couple of Crane polyester walking shirts and in spite of their cost, i.e. €9.99 they are very comfortable and warm. OK they don't have the zipped pockets and hanging tabs that the Rohan shirts feature, but they are a factor of four cheaper. ALDI-Sued socks wear well.
Obviously if your life depends on your gear then it's a wise idea to buy a well known brand, but if like us you are just going hill walking at low levels and you are not worried about status then ALDI's walking clothing fits the bill. It is mostly not made in Europe but there again most of the big names are embroidered on clothing made in the far east. If one of them starts to make stuff in Europe again then we would change our suppliers. I suspect though in this case, it is not a wise policy to hold my breathe.

Rohan

At the end of last year I bought a Rohan "Wayfarer" shirt in their Long Preston shop. Rohan is a British supplier of outdoor clothing. The shirt was the end of a line and reduced in price. I buy most of my walking gear this way.  I wore the shirt on our walking holidays in Avignon and also on our Stevenson trip. Without wishing to sound like a commercial, it was comfortable to wear, looked reasonable and easy to wash. However after our return from St Jean du Gard, Judith noticed that there was a sewing fault on the shoulder yoke. I sent the shirt to Rohan with just a short note and without a bill. A few days  later I was contacted by the company and  talked to a member of staff at HQ who told me that the shirt was faulty and as it couldn't be repaired, the company would send me a new one. Yesterday a DHL packet arrived with a new shirt. Well done, Rohan.