I usually don’t obsess about issues of packing, but I’m having a tough time deciding what to bring on my three-week trip to Ireland and the UK beginning Saturday. Predicably, the weather will be mostly cool and wet, so I figure I’ll be wearing pants nearly all the time.

I’m already set on bringing one pair of thick grey pants and a one pair of jeans. Ideally, I’d like to save the pack space and weight by not bringing a third pair of pants, but am worried about the aforementioned two getting dirty, wet and otherwise nasty from such heavy use (however I plan on doing laundry twice during the trip). I’ll mainly be confined to urban areas, but am taking a three-day tour of the Highlands.

Can anybody who has taken a similar trip give me their two cents? Any advice would be much appreciated…