Many, many moons ago, when I were a lad, I went on Youth Hostel walking holidays in the summer hols with my school. The first time I went I, in my youthful disregard for anything an adult told me, brought my favourite trainers to do the walking in. You can guess how that went. So, the next time I went, I bought some proper walking shoes and didn’t break them in prior to going… Think I’ve still got the blisters from that one.
This was all due to the fact that walking shoes looked horrible to my teenage sense of fashion of course. Well, footwear tech has come on in leaps and bounds since then and these shoes are what I wish I’d have had back then. They have been designed with comfort and lightness in mind and a good bit of ruggedness thrown in for good measure! The collar (the bit that regular shoes are missing and covers your ankle) is made out of a light-weight material with a design that retains flexibility so that you are both protected and find them comfortable to walk in. The rubber soles are designed with durability and cushioning firmly in mind and are also quite grippy, giving you a decent purchase in most terrain. They’ve also made sure the rubber on the heels and toes extends quite a way in to the middle, further increasing the dependability of these shoes. They’re also water resistant, as you may expect.
Despite having an adult child and having gone through the whole teenage thing with clothing from the parents’ perspective, I really don’t know if today’s teenagers would be happy with how these look but they definitely look better than the options I had and they are definitely better designed and better built than they used to be!
RRP £82.49
4 out of 5
- Well designed
- Water resistant
- GoreTex membrane
- Comfortable
- They still need breaking in and this can take a little bit of time
