FERRINO DRY-HIKE 32 £125

USED BY Dry-kit carrying news and features writer Ben Weeks USED FOR 1 year

Let me tell you a story. It was a wet, windswept day in the mountains. The sort of weather that doesn’t so much fall on you as invade your personal space from every angle. That particular kind of soggy, gale-blown misery that, despite your hard shell jacket being zipped up to the chin, your gloves tucked into your sleeves, your waterproof trousers worn over your gaiters, and your boots freshly proofed before you left home, still manages to get in. About halfway through the day, my thoughts turned to the state of my down jacket scrunched up in the bottom of my rucksack. And then, as my brain considered other items of kit that might have been ruined by the intolerable dampness, I remembered my phone in the top zip pocket. “Bugger,” I thought. But then I remembered that not only does the Dry-Hike’s OutDry membrane and rolltop closure keep everything in the main compartment safe, the same membrane and waterproof zips offer equal levels of protection for the contents of the top pockets. So I worried no more and we walked happily ever after. The end. VERDICT A solid and well-equipped daypack that is built for the British mountain weather.