Backpacks

Hiking navigation is not about choosing between a paper map, a compass and GPS. You need to know what each one is good at, where it can let you down,…

Training for a long walk is mostly about making your feet, legs and lungs boringly reliable. You do not need a heroic gym plan; you need enough steady walking, hill…

Most hiking backpacks are water-resistant when new, not properly waterproof. This waterproof backpack guide shows you how to get more rain protection from the pack you already own, where sprays…

You’re four hours into a Lake District walk, your knees are protesting on every downhill step, and the bloke ahead of you is bouncing down the same path with trekking…

You’re standing in Cotswold Outdoor staring at a wall of day packs and they all look basically the same — black, 20-something litres, mesh side pockets. But pick two up…

Day hikes are forgiving. Forget something and you are home by teatime. Multi-day hikes are not. Three days into the Pennine Way with a badly packed rucksack, a soggy sleeping…

You’ve bought a 65-litre rucksack, loaded it with 15kg of camping gear, and after two hours on the trail your shoulders are screaming, your lower back aches, and the hip…

You packed for a three-day trek in the Lake District, weighed your bag at the front door, and the scale said 18kg. By the time you’d climbed Helvellyn, your knees…

You’re three hours into a ridge walk in the Lake District, the forecast said “light showers,” and you’re now being hammered sideways by rain that has no business being described…

You’ve borrowed your partner’s rucksack for the third weekend in a row and the shoulder straps are digging into your collarbones, the hip belt sits on your stomach instead of…