What to Wear?

Forclaz Trekking Trousers Review

Until my walk up Beinn an Lochain I had used the same walking trousers for the best part of fifteen years. However, stepping over a large stone I heard something rip and when I looked down there was a gaping hole down the inside leg of my trousers. I made do with a pair of waterproof trousers over the ripped ones and still managed to complete my walk, but I knew that a visit to an outdoors store would be in order. 

In the past I have a used many different hiking trousers, including the ones that zip off a the legs. In my youth I would have gone for one of these as to purchase both shorts and trousers would have cost too much. However, zips tend to get stuck or fail at some point so you end up trekking with trousers with half closed zips. This time I had decided to go to Decathlon, my kids had got outdoor gear and despite their attempts to destroy the clothes, it had held up well. The most important aspects of buying new trousers were, light, hard wearing and quick to dry. I wanted something that can be used on a day walk and over a few days trekking. 

The Forclaz trousers seemed like a good choice. The weight of these were only 400g and they fold up into a small bundle. The cost of these trousers were also a benifits coming in at £25. Now with regards to pockets. There are 2 zipped side pockets which are nice and roomy. There are two leg pockets, one of which should be big enough to fit a map and kind of does if you fold it small enough. As always I seem to use maps too big for the pockets assigned for this job. One of the leg pockets has studs where the other one is zipped, this makes it easy to access these in a rush. Both pockets can also hold snacks and a mobile phone easily. My last trousers were quite baggy and tended to flap in the wind. The Froclaz ones are a tighter fit that move with your body as you walk over the outdoor terrain. The light material is also better suited to wind and rain, they also dry much quicker when wet. There is a stud with velcro to secure the trousers at the waist and a plastic buckle connection. I am interested to see how long this velcro stud will last. There are darker blue section around the backside, knee and lower leg. This gives the impression of the trousers being more robust and hard wearing. Again, it will be interesting to see how the trousers wear in the future and where they will start to break down.

Overall it is hard to knock these trousers. They are very effective at its job and they are comfortable to wear. It also seems like these will last for many hikes to come. We shall see. 

Score 5/5