As I’m sure avid readers of our blog are aware, it’s possible that from one of our posts yesterday people may have drawn the conclusion that spring was on its way. Here at Outdoor Look we’d like to make it clear at this point that anyone drawing this conclusion from our post was both wrong and misguided. Spring is not on its way. It never has been and it never will be!  Winter hasn’t finished with us and you’d better wrap up if you intend to brave the current arctic conditions. 

OK, joking aside, weatherwise there may be a little hiatus in the imminent arrival of spring but let’s be clear as sure as night follows day, or even spring follows winter, spring is on its way and will get here sooner or later. Yesterday we gave you a brief guide to checking that your walking clothes and boots were ready for the spring walking season, today we are going to talk about layering again, albeit in a little more depth.

The key question then is this: What is layered clothing and why is it so good outdoors?

Well in a nutshell, layered clothing consists of multiple garments worn on top of each other. In theory each of the layers has a different function. Using more or fewer layers, or replacing one layer but not others enables you to be comfortable whatever the temperature or conditions.  Why does it work? Well two thin layers are warmer yet lighter than one thick layer, because the air trapped between layers serves as thermal insulation. So basically layering is an easy way to stay warm or cool regardless of the weather.

Now people say that you can usefully use up to five layers, however, in terms of functionality and description there really are only 3 layers.

1/ The Base layer – This is the inner layer next to the skin. In theory this is the most important layer and the layer that most people are familiar with. We’ve all heard of baselayers right? If you haven’t take a look at some of our baselayers and you’ll see what they look like.

2/ The Mid layer – This layer is used in cold weather to provide an additional layer of thermal insulation. In warmer weather it may even be the top layer.

3/ The Shell or top layer – In this country, for obvious reasons, this is frequently your outer waterproof layer.

Now, hopefully, having enlightened you as to what layering is we can move on over the next few days to provide you with a description of the various types of garment that you can use for each layer.