Walking-when you absolutely positively want to be dry…

So we seem to now be firmly into shitty weather dog walking territory again and I just want some respite. Kit me out please.

I want a bombproof waterproof jacket that needs minimal care. Ultimate water proofness and decent length.

Footwear for trudging through the elements day after day. Dog likes muddy squirrel filled woods and muddy fields.

watcha got? 

You should try commuting to work on a bike !

I already own the T-shirt on that one!

Dryrobe and Ugg boots, surely.

Minimal in what sense?

My experience with “waterproof” is that most stuff is anything but.

Take some time to proof something and it’ll do the job. Wax coats are the shit. Yes they need proofed but will last forever and the actual process shouldn’t take long.

Couple that with some boots and gaiters when needed and you’re sorted.

Hoggs of Fife cap optional.

Cape de pluie

If you really want to stay dry, and not sweaty an umbrella is the best thing.

Better to keep the rain off you rather than try and waterproof yourself.

Admittedly, an umbrella might not be practical for your activity, or if it is especially windy.

Swazi Tahr, its heavy, warm and keeps me dry no matter what, maybe overkill for dog walking. My old Mountain equipment Lhotse is my current wet weather dog jacket but the price now seems double what I paid years back.

Helly Hansen work wear for the win  for this. The rubberised jackets are bombproof, I’ve had a pullover one for ten years and even though it is full of pinpricks i stay dry. You do have to walk slowly so you don’t get too sweaty though.

Another HH vote, but this time for their sailing gear (when it’s in the outlet shop 😉 ). Plain ol’ rain ain’t getting through that.

And if it’s proper wet, wellies – WP trousers worn over – decent insoles makes a great improvement even to my cheap ones.

My repeated answer to this, arrived at through personal experience of spending repeated 10-12 hour days outside right through the year, is a pair of Portwest overtrousers, with a Buffalo Super 6 jacket and a £20 Peter Storm ‘waterproof’ zip up over that, and a standard Helly Lifa as a base layer.

The cheapo Millets jacket sheds the worst of the wet, the Buffalo just gets slightly damp on the surface, and the wearer stays nice and dry and warm as a result. No turning into a boil-in-the-bag human, and no worrying about a multiple hundred pounds jacket needing fancy treatments to shed the water that a £20 nylon jacket does just as well, without the worry of scuffs, snags, tears, etc, which can be sorted with a few inches of duct tape. As a nod to company safety policy, I’d wear my hiviz vest over the top of everything else.

That was my standard winter wear for five years, ‘cos the issued jacket was crap, by lunchtime I’d be almost as wet inside it as the outside was, with half the day still to go.

The Buffalo is hanging up upstairs, and with the weather being what it is, it won’t be long before I’m wearing it again.

the Buffalo just gets slightly damp on the surface, and the wearer stays nice and dry and warm as a result. No turning into a boil-in-the-bag human,

Unless you’re moving fast or it’s not freezing cold, in which case you’ll get very warm, very quickly. The pile/Pertex will manage the moisture okay – pile is hydrophobic, so water basically just runs out of it – but you’lll be hot and losing water and electrolytes. Great in full-on Scottish winter mountaineering conditions or standing around a lot, not so good on the move.

In truth, I don’t think there’s a single solution for everyone, it depends a lot on individual physiology, activity levels and conditions. Paramo’s not a bad call for moderate activity in cool conditions for most people and the way it works means snags and tears are easily repairable and don’t compromise overall waterproofness. You can add insulation value with warm mid-layers, hats etc.

But I think a lot of this hinges on how warm you run / how fast you move. What works at a standstill isn’t quite so effective when you’re walking up a hill at a brisk pace. See also mountain biking where you’re going to get damp however you dress, but there’s an inflexion point where it’s better to get warm damp from the inside than freezing cold damp from driven rain at temperatures just above freezing point.

Go full ‘Captain Birdseye’ Sou’wester with your choice of warm layers underneath. FFS, it’s only walking a mutt 😉

Unless of course,you are running,jumping and sprinting with said mutt,that’s a different thing/thread altogether 🙂

Flexothane  stockmans coat and wellies

A wax jacket (one without chest pockets), a pair of eBay ex MOD goretex troos and a pair of muck boots.

job jobbed.

One set of the above kept me dry for years through winter ‘til the dog passed away.

Yep flexothane is the answer. And wellies. Or surplus army boots if it’s not actually muddy.

Smeared with cowshit? Pressure washer.

No care required. Bulletproof as well so last ages. Nice big pockets with flaps for the accoutrements.

Proper hood.

Boxy enough you can wear what’s required underneath

Wellies and woolie boolies

A wax jacket

I would quite like a waxed cotton jacket, but are there any that don’t make you look like a posho?

Awesome thanks some great suggestions and interesting looking brands I’d not seen popping up in searches.

I would quite like a waxed cotton jacket, but are there any that don’t make you look like a posho?

If you’re minted, you could, I suppose, buy a Fjallraven G-1000 jacket – basically lightly-waxed, closely-woven polycotton – then go heavy on applications of their Greenland wax. It wouldn’t be as waterproof, I guess, as full-on, Barbour-style hoorah material, but not far off I suppose. But also expensive. You’d still look ‘posh’, but more ‘outdoor posh’ than the ‘shooting, hunting and fishing’ waddling Labrador variety.

are there any that don’t make you look like a posho?

Or worse, Farage

I would quite like a waxed cotton jacket, but are there any that don’t make you look like a posho?

I had a driaz-a-bone thing, probably a rider, I don’t think I looked posh more like some lost cowboy.

I replaced by 15 year old 15 quid from a market stall wellies with these. Known as ‘beaters’ wellies locally, it’s what the farm shop sells and they have a reputation for lasting for ages in all conditions. Too hot for summer (as they are Neoprene) but super comfy, warm even when standing still in the snow, fab sole that’s about as grippy as a box fresh Magic Mary in the mud, and obviously totally waterproof.

Not cheap, but most of the dog walking crew have ended up with a pair. We do lots of cold, wet, muddy walks through streams etc in the winter and these are brilliant for that. Can’t help you on other stuff, I use a pair of lined waterproof trousers I used to commute in and whatever rain/warm jacket I think works best from the MTB collection.