Some Belted Plaid/Great Kilt Questions

[bodhran4me]

Remember if sleeping on the ground there is significant heat loss through conduction to the earth. You can have six inches of insulation on top of you but if you are losing heat to the ground you will be cold. The reason people use insulated sleep pads is due to conductive heat loss. An inexpensive pad like the Klymit Static V will make a world of difference to both comfort and temperature. It will also offer some protection from the dampness as well. Get the camo version and nobody will know you are cheating!

[Taskr]

I'm not sure that hiking around Golden BC in the same cloth used to sleep in is a good idea, but I do admire the adventurousness of it.
If it were me I wouldn't wear anything less than 4yds double width heavy weight. That is a lot of cloth, but as the evening air temp drops, I'd want to be able to roll up more of the wool cloth around me. As Steve mentioned, to paraphrase, the hand of modern weaves is meant more for style and fashion than the warmth of sleeping outdoors. Whatever you get, the heavier the better because of that.

[Pleater]

You'd not be sleeping on the ground though, when sleeping 'rough' - the usual method is to create a raised area with branches and twigs easy to break off, and then cover that with soft stuff to lie on, all in the most sheltered spot you can find.
I don't know how easy it would be to do in other parts of the world, but in most areas of Britain it is possible, though the more natural the better.

[bertwert]

You'd not be sleeping on the ground though, when sleeping 'rough' - the usual method is to create a raised area with branches and twigs easy to break off, and then cover that with soft stuff to lie on, all in the most sheltered spot you can find.
I don't know how easy it would be to do in other parts of the world, but in most areas of Britain it is possible, though the more natural the better.

Exactly, that's what I plan on doing.

[OC Richard]

There is no historical documentation of what a Great kilt was or how it was worn. Everything you see today is re-creation or fantasy.

At least we do have both verbal accounts and imagery. Loads of imagery, in colour!

There are many things from previous centuries which we have only a vague description, or only a weathered statue; yet we do the best we can to understand the past using the evidence we have.

Yes all the great kilts made and worn today are re-creations. It's like that with any ancient stuff that we don't have surviving examples of. Too bad we don't have an original one to examine- therefore some details will have to be guessed at.

I always imagined that the old "mantles" (as writers often called them) were fairly thick stuff, different stuff than the elegant great kilts worn by 18th century aristocracy which we have so many images of. Years ago a piper friend had a great kilt made of the sort of stuff I imagine- it was tartan, yes, but the weight and feel of Harris Tweed or Donegal Tweed.

[Steve Ashton]

A pretty good read.

[jthk]

Just finished it myself!

A pretty good read.

[OC Richard]

I don't have Before The Kilt but I do have



which is wonderful because the author presents the actual evidence by category (written accounts, surviving examples, imagery) so that the reader is in the same position as the author.

I always prefer authors that are heavy on presenting evidence and light on drawing conclusions, rather than the other way round.

BTW I don't think you can point to a certain point in time and say "before this time the kilt didn't exist, and after this time it did." In my opinion there was a period of unknown length in the Highlands during which the mantle was an undifferentiated garment which at the wearer's whim could be thrown over the shoulder like a cloak (the brat of old Ireland) or wrapped around the waist (a proto-great kilt).

Just why the fashion began of wrapping the mantle around the waist in the Highlands, and not in Ireland, who can say.

[llyd]

I wholeheartedly concur with what has been said about modern sleeping gear...I have spent many nights under wool in better conditions than the woods...

Were I to pursue such a ye olde rustic path....I would aquire a gray wool army or Navy blanket, and a stout piece of duck canvas with which to make an oilskin ground cloth and cover....then I would totally cheat the system by lining it with cotton flannel or the like...I prefer to sleep warm in a cold room....sooo...

the advantage of this is that it can be rolled into a bedroll into which a suprising amount of incidental gear may be contained...

I would be more likely to carry a knapsack or the like which would be more or less aligned with the purpose stated....and carry modern gear in it.

[Rangingscot]

I actually do a lot like what you want to do! I'm a big outdoorsman (eagle scout, search and rescue, reenactment, hiker and backpacker) and have since spent many a night under a wool blanket, now on to business: I wear deer fur ghillies on my feet (hair on outside) makes for good insulation and sneaking around... not so much traction though, in fact anything leather is horrible for traction in damp weather. I wear a cotton (lien?) shirt that is dyed blue and a dark blue wool vest and coat over. my belted plaid is 4 yards of heavier wool in black watch tartan, that plus a thin wool cloak for ground is just barely enough in 40 deg weather I get in Washington state, along with good bedding, trews underneath or just my hose and a hot rock bed and shelter, I am set to go to about 25 deg and content... if you are going lighter material, I would ... #1 make sure it is %100 wool and #2 get more of it, 6 yards should be fine down to maybe 40 deg if you have bedding and shelter.
if you go with just cowhide, be sure to add some sort of foot wrap or fur to keep your toes from falling off when they get frostbitten

PS: eat high calorie food and hot drink before turning in for the night, body will burn more cals then normal when it gets colder out.

the scots would wrap the plaid around the entire body and cover their head too, when they breathed it would create a warm damp environment and they would stay content... I have tried this before and yes it does work but I prefer my hot rock bed and/or long fire