Review: Hi-tec walking boot

The nice people at Hi-tec have sent me a pair of walking boots to test-drive on the hills around Aviemore this weekend. It's the first time for more than 20 years that I have owned a pair of leather boots. But with so much wet weather around I'm thinking that leather will be a huge asset.

The technical name for boots is: V-Lit Altitude Ultra Luxe WPI in a size 8. They look lovely and the feel very light.

According to the website features include:

• Waterproof nubuck leather upper
• Ion-mask waterproof technology
• Fully gusseted leather tongue
• Soft-padded leather collar
• Moisture-wicking lining
• Rustproof hardware
• Stabila-Flex contoured bi-fit board for support without the weight
• Lightweight compression-molded EVA midsole
• Exclusive Vibram® outsole
• Comfort-Tec contoured sockliner

The test will come when tramping through the bogs and on rough trails over the next couple of I'll blog my report on these Hi-tec boots after this weekend.

Little Miss Outdoors has also been sent a pair of Junior Renegrade Trail walking boots. We'll be testing these on a hill near Glasgow sometime over the Easter hols.

Hey walkers, what's in your bag?

The strange thing is that only a week or so ago I had been discussing with a fellow mountain walking pal that it would be great to set up some kind of specific Munro Bagging logbook website...

Yes, I know people can keep a checklist of their own Munro bags (normally by crossing off the Munros in the index of SMC Munro bible or on Harveys' fab Muno & Corbett map) but I'd thought it would be great to see a site dedicated to offering a place to diary and write about Munro bagging. Kind of like an on-line travelogue for Munro baggers.

And then, on Friday, someone sent me a link to a brand-new site that aims just to do this.

While I'm a tad jealous that Bagging Scotland has got there first – I'm still very happy to blog about it.

Munro Bagging has become a hugely popular pursuit, especially over the last decade and it's fantastic to see so many people walking to the summits of the 283 3000ft-plus mountains in Scotland – as well as keeping themselves fit in the process. I've written about some of the more extreme Munro bagging rounds in the press. Some people aren't happy with simply bagging all the summits over a number of years, instead they want to go one better, doing a continuous round, playing the bagpipes on every summit, walking the round in winter. And like bagger extraordinaire Steve Fallon, doing multiple rounds. Fallon has almost finished 14 rounds.

So this new Bagging Scotland site gives people the ideal platform in which to write about their "Bags". The site also suggests that people could bag Scottish castles, whisky distilleries and islands. I'm sure there will be more categories added in due course, but for the time being it looks like a great website to keep tabs on.

It's all in the detail

Sometimes I come across new fitness/outdoors kit that includes a detail that is so fab I want to tell everyone about it. This time it's a couple of new Nike products that I recently bought.

The first is a Nike Dri-FIT Running beanie (and also the Nike Thermal Running Skull) that features a small but highly useful hole in the back. For us girls with ponytails this fab detail offers a truly genius solution to the usual bunched-up-at-the-back-of-the-head-hair nightmare that all too often occurs with a ponytail and a woolly hat.

You don't have to have a pony tail to wear this hat as guys or women with short hair won't even notice the hole, but for women with long hair it is nothing short of fabulous. (Actually, come to think of it, guys or women with short hair might find the hole useful for feeding through earphone wires.)

Since buying the hat numerous long-locked pals have commented on the brilliance of this hat. I plan to wear the thinner Dri-FIT beanie under my cycle helmet, too, and as an additional layer when out walking in the hills.

Nike also have a pair of running gloves called Nike Lightweight Running Gloves with a tiny wee pocket on the inside of the palm just perfect for slipping a key into. If you're a runner then you'll know the problem well: you're heading out for a run from the car or the house but you're only wearing a basic pair of leggings or shorts and a top. So where on earth can you stow the key?

These Nike gloves offer the ideal solution. Pop the key in the palm pocket and then hold your hands in the natural curled position for running and you'll find the key stays perfectly in place.

These two features might only be small additions to a couple of pieces of ordinary running kit but they make a huge difference to comfort and practicalities.

The fab running specialist store Achilles Heel, Great Western Road, Glasgow, sells these Nike products.