The Complete Day Hike Checklist for British Weather

Ask anyone who walks in the British hills about their worst day out and the weather will usually be in the story. A morning that starts blue over Edale can be wet and windy on Kinder Scout by lunchtime, and the forecast you checked at breakfast never covered the difference between valley floor and plateau.

So a day hike checklist here looks different from one written for somewhere drier. It assumes rain, assumes wind, and assumes a summit that is colder than you expected. What follows is a kit list you can print, with the reasoning behind each part of it.

Read the Fell Forecast, Not the Town One

Check two numbers before you pack: wind speed and temperature on the tops. The Met Office and the Mountain Weather Information Service both publish free forecast for upland areas, and wind matters more than temperature. A still 6°C day on a ridge is pleasant. The same temperature with 40mph gusts is a different outing altogether.

Read the forecast for where you are actually walking, not the nearest town. Valleys sit hundreds of metres below the ridgelines, and cloud often sits on the tops while the streets below stay dry. If the forecast is borderline, pack for the worse version of it.

Waterproofs That Actually Keep You Dry

Your jacket

Look for taped seams, a hood that stays up in wind, and enough room to fit over a mid layer without squashing it. Pit zips are worth having, because they let you dump heat on a climb without taking the jacket off, and overheating under a shell is how you end up shivering at the summit. If water soaks into the fabric instead of beading on it, reproof the jacket before a big day out.

Trousers and pack protection

Full-length waterproof trousers with side zips pull on over boots without a fight. Keep them near the top of your rucksack rather than buried at the bottom. Inside the pack, use a rucksack liner or a heavy-duty bin bag, and put spare layers, your phone and anything else that must stay dry into a dry bag. Even a good jacket starts leaking at the seams after a few hours of proper rain.

Layers That Dry and Keep Working

Three layers do the job: a base layer that moves sweat away from your skin, a mid layer that traps warmth, and a waterproof shell on top. Skip cotton. A wet cotton T-shirt against your skin chills you quickly once you stop moving, and summit stops are exactly when you need to stay warm.

Pack a spare insulating layer in a dry bag even on a warm day, and add a hat and gloves in every season. Hands get cold fast when you are holding a map or a pole in the wind, and thin liner gloves take up almost no space. If you hike in winter, a second pair of gloves is not excessive.

Food and Water for a Full Day

Carry more water than you think you need. On a long summer walk in the hills, a litre and a half to two litres per person is a reasonable starting point, and more if it is hot or the route is steep. Many UK routes have no reliable water source, and stream water needs treating before you drink it. A flask of something hot is a small luxury on a cold, wet day.

Take food you will actually eat when you are tired and slightly damp, not food that sounded appealing in the kitchen. Sandwiches, oatcakes, nuts, flapjack and a few sweets for the final climb all work. Bring one extra item that stays in your pack unopened as an emergency ration. If you take regular medication, or have a condition that is affected by cold or exertion, speak to your GP or pharmacist about what to carry and how to manage it on the hill.

Emergency Kit You Hope Never to Use

Most day-hike callouts come down to two things: getting lost and getting benighted. Both are largely preventable with a small pouch of kit that lives in your rucksack permanently.

1. Headtorch with spare batteries. Sunset catches people out more than any other single factor.
2. Paper map and compass, plus the ability to use them. Phone batteries die in the cold and signal disappears in valleys.
3. Charged phone with offline maps downloaded, kept in a waterproof bag.
4. Whistle. Six blasts in quick succession, pause, then repeat.
5. First aid kit: plasters, blister plasters, tape, antiseptic wipes, painkillers you know you can take, and personal medication.
6. Foil bivvy bag or emergency shelter. It weighs almost nothing and turns a long, cold wait into something survivable.
7. Spare cord and a roll of tape for running repairs.

If you are not confident with a map and compass, a navigation course or a day with a qualified instructor is worth more than any gadget. Kit does not replace the skill.

The Printable Checklist

Copy this into a note on your phone, or print it and tick things off the night before.

• Worn or carried
  • Base layer, synthetic or merino
  • Mid layer, fleece or light synthetic jacket
  • Waterproof jacket with a hood
  • Waterproof trousers
  • Hat and gloves
• In the rucksack
  • Spare insulating layer in a dry bag
  • Spare socks, worth it if the route crosses bog or a stream
  • 1.5 to 2 litres of water, plus a flask in cold weather
  • Lunch, snacks and one emergency ration
  • Headtorch with spare batteries
  • Map, compass and route notes
  • Phone with offline maps, in a waterproof bag
  • First aid kit and personal medication
  • Emergency shelter or foil bag
  • Whistle
  • Sun cream and sunglasses, even in a British spring
  • Midge repellent or a head net in summer
  • Bin bag for rubbish, and a spare one as a pack liner
• Before you leave
  • Route shared with someone at home, plus an expected return time
  • Fell forecast and wind speed checked
  • Boots and waterproofs checked for damage
  • Mountain rescue and emergency numbers saved

Use It the Night Before

The point of a checklist is not to turn a walk into an expedition. It is to stop one small forgotten item ruining the day. Keep the emergency pouch and the waterproof trousers packed together in your rucksack so they are ready to go, then top up food and water the evening before.

Lay everything out on the floor, tick it off, and pack it. Do that three or four times and it becomes habit. You will learn your own kit and adjust the list for the season, the route and the

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