Some women (and some men) have discovered the joys of ditching the trousers and shorts and walking in a skirt, kilt or even dress. After my Best Ever Hiking Trousers developed a critical material fault (totally worn out) and no other trousers came close to being comfortable enough, I needed to rethink my hiking outfit. Some walkers just wear running tights or leggings and a T-shirt, which is fine and quite normal now compared to 10 years ago. Running tights are great for coverage, wicking and stopping chafing, but I prefer to cover my bum. I started looking for long T-shirts or hiking tunics, but found none I wanted, so I tried adding a skirt … and I haven’t looked back. Here’s why:
- Adaptability: I love that I can add and change different kinds of leggings underneath to suit the weather, temperature, or needs on the day. Bike shorts, capris, long leg, merino leggings, black or any colour and pattern you like – the possibilities are endless, and leggings are lighter and easier to wash than trousers.
- Non chafing: Unlike skorts (skirts with built-in shorts under) and trousers, skirts don’t cover your inner thighs and can be washed separately from the leggings that do. Damp clothes can cause painful chafing, whether they’re damp from sweat or from not-quite-drying on the line. Put on dry leggings and you can still wear a slightly damp skirt – it will dry as you walk.
- Pockets: The best skirts have pockets which add fabulous functionality – keep your phone, wallet, guidebook, random restaurant flyer, hotel key card etc close to hand without having to add to your bag. There are even tights with pockets on them now – yay pockets! Just remember to empty them before you do the laundry …
- Movement: Walking skirts are often stretchy and/or short-ish to allow for unrestricted movement, and a skirt also gives you better air flow on a hot day.
- Modesty: Not only does it hide my bum while walking, which I prefer, it also makes it easier to go for a wild wee without baring all!
- Rain wear: Skirts and leggings tend to dry faster than trouser legs on an on-and-off rainy day. In heavy rain it’s easier to pull my rain trousers on over leggings than hiking trousers, and then just pull the skirt off – or keep it on, doesn’t matter if it gets wet when you have rain trousers on under.
The main thing to look for in a good hiking skirt is that there’s nothing rubbing under the pack, so check there are no chunky belt loops, zips, buttons or chafing seams on the skirt or the legging – you don’t want to find out 10 kms into a 20 km walk.
My current favourite combo is a lightweight running legging with a Purple Rain skirt, which has a wide, comfy waist band and brilliant open and covered pockets on both thighs. Behold:
In fact I own several Purple Rain skirts now – the original purple, possibly my favourite, as well as a pink, a black, and a new purple one – and I love them! I wear them all the time at home in the warmer weather and wouldn’t even consider going for a long hike without them. They are incredibly comfy, hard wearing, with all the right pockets in the right places for my phone, guidebook, snacks, gloves, hair band, and the left hand one is my on-the-move rubbish bin for wrappers and tissues. The soft yoga waist band never rubs under the pack and keeps the skirt in place even when the weight starts dropping. They are even comfy to sleep in and add modesty when going through the albergue at night. The material is easy wash and quick dry, seems to shed dust and dirt, and even beer and wine beads off them (mostly). The skirt body falls beautifully and is the perfect length, so I can go straight off trail and into a restaurant without feeling out of place, and I can dress it up* or down for fun or formal occasions. (*adding a colourful scarf)
Other skirts I have known and loved: Royal Robbins black flippy travel skirt (hidden zip pocket in the flip), Craghoppers (jeans style button, zip and pockets), Fjällräven (big pockets on thighs, a revelation!), Macabi (now in long, short and slim versions, soft and strong with HUGE pockets), then Purple Rain – and that was it for me.
Purple Rain now also make dresses, which made me look at hiking dresses with pockets, and I found brands like Ladyhike, and Columbia, and most recently merino clothing brand Wool& – yes, the ones with the 100 day challenge; wear one of their dresses every day for 100 days and receive a £100 gift card to put towards another dress. They have different models and different materials, some pure merino, most merino-rich blends, all of them soft and comfortable and very wearable. On my last walk I brought their reversible Summer model in black and wore it every day after my walk, with a cardi over, and even slept in it when I was cold. I will take it again, and this time I am planning to walk in the Maggie T-shirt dress on hot days.
Especially in warm weather a merino dress is the ultimate choice (for me, YMMV) and the reason is twofold. One, it eliminates one layer of clothing in the middle. Where usually there is underwear, bottom, top (one or more) all held tight by the waist strap, with a dress where is only underwear, bottom (unless walking without leggings under), then dress and waist strap. And two, merino is temperature regulating, kind on skin, moisture wicking, doesn’t get smelly so doesn’t need washing as often, and is easy to wash and quick to dry when you do. Best of both worlds!
There are of course a wide world of other options, from the cheap and cheerful viscose dress I wore in a heatwave on the meseta, to the less cheap but wonderfully light Fjällräven hooded sun dress. As long as it’s camino appropriate – lightweight, washable, comfortable – it’s all good.
Don’t get me wrong, zip-off trousers that convert from trousers to shorts are brilliant for camino use, but just because everyone buys them, there is no guarantee they will work for you. And just because many wear shorts or leggings, that’s no reason to limit yourself to their options. If walking in a skirt or a dress sounds like a good fit for you, with or without some form of leggings, try it! If you still prefer the zip-offs, wear them. At least then it is an informed decision!
Somewhere Slowly 