rogueclimber
Practically Family
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Monkeys singing castrato in the Shires (flipping townies....;_)I’m in the great miserable wet and cold Great Britain. And yes mid Feb winter is over.
It's always wet in Ireland haha its like WalesIt's funny this thread is here, I did something similar recently:
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I wore the above jacket for 3 weeks while in Alabama this winter. It was my only outerwear, and I have to say it was extremely versatile in their strange, two-season winter. It's a 5* modified G1 goatskin, and makes for an excellent travel companion.
First of all, the hide, while thick and heavy, is very flexible and comfortable. Drapes well and never feels bulky, and stows decently too. Can be easily thrown over the shoulder if need be, unlike, say, some Chromexcel HH. Most importantly, it is unmoved by all but the strongest winds. It's also very water-resistant; I have worn this in bucketing rain and nothing gets through.
At least for me—and it's worth saying, I run warm—it can be worn comfortably over a shirt and maybe with a scarf between about 7° and 14° communism (that's 45° to 57° freedom). Below that, and it needs a jumper underneath, but it will work well enough down to -5°C, maybe even -10°C. Above 14°C, and the wool knits start to be a problem, less because of the material itself, and more because they restrict airflow at the sleeves. But the knits really are what make it so flexible. When it's warmer, you can open the jacket up and you get plenty of airflow. When it's colder, the knits keep all the warm air in. It's really noticeable compared to something like my Aero HBD, which feels positively drafty at lower temperatures (the flip side of course is that it's more comfortable in warmer temperatures, because air can move down and out the sleeves as well).
I don't know if there's any such thing as a single season here in Ireland. We basically have spring and autumn happening interchangeabley all year round, with a few weeks of summer and winter speckled over the course of the year. I honestly think I could wear this all winter here, but realistically there are lots of weeks in winter when it's not especially cold, but it is very wet (or at least here on the west coast, in constant danger of becoming so), and a Barbour makes a better choice. And in-between there are some weeks when it's below freezing basically all day, and there's no reason to pick the 5* over my BSC shearling. But I really think that this kind of jacket could be your only jacket for winters in temperate climates.