These Walking Boots

[bunn]

[Poll #1827999]

And for the sake of completeness:

the same brand & style of boot

Same brand, different style - but so cheap!

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

After the experience I had when you bought the boots you are now replacing*, I'm not convinced that walking boots are designed to be comfortable. It may be that they're supposed to hurt so that the sort of people who do masochistic things like, say, walking all the way around the Isle of Wight can feel even more virtuous than they would have done in comfortable shoes.






* I tried on every single sodding walking boot in the outdoor-sports-for-townies shop** before coming to the conclusion that none of them were going to result in anything other than complete agony after more than 60 seconds of wear. I then went into a nearby outdoor-sports-for-country-folk shop*** and bought the first pair of boots I tried on**** http://uk-shop.dubarryboots.com/collections/men/footwear/country-boots/wexford-boot which fitted perfectly.

** The sort that sells nasty-looking clothes in flourescent colours and artificial fibres and smells predominantly of plastic.

*** The sort that sells shotguns and Barbours and smells predominantly of leather and waxed cotton.

**** Which, although admittedly bloody expensive, are still going strong and which I wear a lot. Oh, and unlike most walking boots which are impractical if your country walk happens to include crossing a stream, are also completely waterproof. And unlike most walking boots, actually look stylish too.

[andrewducker]

Clearly my experiences aren't universal:-)

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

My walking boots are wonderfully comfortable - definitely the most comfortable footwear I own. I wear them even for a walk of a couple of miles on town roads. I have a tendency to walk on the insides of my feet, which means that I get joint pain and pain in the tendons of my feet after just a few miles in "normal" shoes. My boots give me ankle support and fit wonderfully, which meant that I could walk 70 miles last week without the slightest hint of discomfort in my joints or feet, and not even a hint of a blister. So just because you didn't find boots comfortable, it doesn't follow that everyone wearing them is doing them out of some sort of strange sense of martyrdom.

And surely something can't be masochistic if you enjoy every minute of it...? :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Oh you know what he's like, he loves to provoke. I have a theory that his family history contains troll blood...

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I knew I was feeding the troll, but one has to occasionally take pity on the species. It can't be nice hiding under a bridge, waiting for billy goats to come by, especially if your boots don't fit. :-)

(Really, several people this week have informed me almost aggressively that I was an idiot to do my big walk, so it's a sufficiently touchy subject for me to feel the need to respond, even though I knew I was rising to a deliberate bait.)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

They're only jealous :-D

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Surely if you're a masochist then you want to be doing something unpleasant, and doing something you enjoy can't really be unpleasant, so by enjoying yourself you'll be denying yourself your masochistic pleasures. Which presumably then counts as torturing yourself... :-)