I carry a pack, and so do all children aged 8 or over (gentle walks) or aged 10 or over (summits or harder walks). Everyone wears long trousers, light top, fleece, and jacket. Sometimes gloves and beanies. Footwear = Karrimor walking boots.

KIDS’ PACKS:

Packs have reflective backs.

• Waterproof jacket (at least 5,000 mm) and trousers.
• Light fleece jumper.
• Sunglasses, sun hats, and sun cream.
• Bottle of water (metal with snap lock).
• Apples, pork pies, cakes and sweets.
• Tissues.
• Small dive torch (tough and waterproof, works as torch and strobe, great for emergencies, or fog or caves).
• Over 12s: waterproof mobile with downloaded OS maps.
• Plasters.
• Whistle.
• Orange survival bag.
• Money (small amount, for e.g. cab or snack).

MY PACK

(Includes gear for children aged 8 and under.)

• Same as the kids: jacket, jumper, sunglasses, sun hat & sun cream, food, tissues, dive torch, money.
• Several litres of water.
• Waterproof watch with Strava. (In an emergency, I can end the hike on Strava and show people exactly where I am.)
• Waterproof mobile phone (Xperia) with OS map download.
• OS paper map 1:25,000 and a compass.
• Cheap waterproof camera (Nikon Coolpix), for kids.
• Gerber multi-tool.
• First aid kit containing elastic knee support, thumb support, Tubigrip bandage, crepe bandage, triangular bandage, safety pins, Steristrips, big plasters & fabric strip plasters, non-adhesive wound pads, surgical tape, ibuprofen 200mg, Calpol for over 6ys, hydrocortisone cream 1%, hayfever tablets, antihistamine cream, antiseptic wipes and cream, cold sore cream, clean Swiss Army penknife with scissors. At the first sign of a blister, I go in with the Tubigrip medical overkill, because blisters make for searing memories and reduce the chance of them ever wanting to go again.
• Rope (cheap, 5m x 6mm polyester), and snap clip. When they were aged 6 or below, I used to include a light sailing harness, in case anyone needed a bit of confidence.
• Whistle.
• Orange survival bag.
• Spare boot laces.
• Spare sunglasses.
• Spare socks. Lovely fluffy ones. Because a child with uncomfortable feet needs to feel hugged.
• Spare big kagoul (for that bird poop moment).
• Spare shorts for Youngest because he likes to wear shorts. Mental state is an important safety factor on wild walks (not to mention the whole point of going) and misery or frustration can be a real drain on a tired child – if he’s desperate for shorts then I’d rather have draughty legs than tears.
• Sealable plastic bags.
• Magic potions. Actually gross sugar-solution sweets they’ve never been allowed to buy in the local sweet shop because I wanted some “Mum-I’m-tired” magic oomph.
• Fig rolls and Eccles cakes, plus sandwiches and all sorts: we eat almost constantly all day when walking.

And

• usually, a rock collection. Call me Mum.