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Before my traverse of the Tour du Mont Blanc with my brother I thought I had better get a decent pair of boots. I know what some of you might say, "Why don't you just stay comfortable in trainers?". I might tend to agree on some terrain and in my peak fellrunning days (no pun intended) a decent pair of Walsh shoes are all you need. However, I am a firm advocate of boots especially on rockier terrain and to gain that little extra support. Like a good pair of shoes, I also feel that in the long run well fitting boots, that might cost more, are better for your feet. With this in mind I tootled off to a famous outdoor shop in Ambleside and bought a new pair of Raichle, quite a snip at £150! Having said that the customer service was second to none and got me thinking of the way I bought my boots before and look after my feet in general. As I outlined in the boots advice within this website, people might spend a long time trying on different coats and the like, but when it comes to boots and shoes for our feet we might look no further than style. After ten minutes trying on a couple of pairs we are all guilty, I am sure, and walk away completely satisfied with our purchase. However, how many of us have sometimes got home to think, "Actually they're a bit tight", or "To be honest, I needed a little more ankle support". This is when it is imperative to spend some quality time getting a good fit with your shoe. Spending over an hour in the said shop, I realised that for many years I had been treating my feet badly. Considering that your shoe or boot is the most important feature of your kit spending intimate time with the razor sharp rocks of Broad Crags summit plateau it is easy to overlook the importance that a good fitting pair of boots should have. Anyway, here's one small piece of advice when tieing up your boot laces. Before you tie the final bow or knot on your boots instead of twisting the laces around each other once, do it twice. This basically creates more friction between the laces and stops the top of the boot from becoming slack. In the long run, this creates a better fit, stops the boot coming undone and therefore stops you having to be inconvenienced by having to stop and fasten or refasten your boot. To see what I mean watch this short video:- |
