Alternative shoe shopping

‘Shona and I have decided that you need sturdy walking shoes’

Cat announces that she’s going to take me shoe shopping so that I have the right footwear for walking, as I've said I want to do some 'tea shop walks*' on the Moors. I greet this pronouncement with trepidation, and admit that I’m scared of ‘outdoors’ shops. Not quite as scared as I am of PC World, but still scared.

So far, I’ve managed a 5 mile walk, and not actually gone off tarmac (well, apart from the bit where we had to scramble up a bank), so I’ve been wearing my ordinary work shoes with a small heel, but I do agree that I need something a bit more robust, so we decide to hit the shops.

In the first, I’m trying to find a pair I like the look of, and gulping at the cost. ‘It’s not about looks, it’s about not getting a sprained ankle’, I’m told, but it is, because if I don’t like the look of them, I won’t wear them. ‘These are quite pretty, what do they look like?’ I discover that 'outdoors' shops don’t tend to have mirrors so that you can see your feet, but they do have cobbles you can test the shoes on. As I’m not planning to walk on many cobbles, I trot off to look for a mirror. ‘No, too much like trainers, I can’t buy anything that looks like trainers’.

We try about 5 shops, and a finally find a pair I quite like, which aren’t too expensive, and are a nice blue colour. Yes, they feel ok, much like all the others, but prettier. ‘You’ll need proper socks, too’. I discover that you can’t just wear any old socks with such shoes, but need hiking socks (or, as in one shop, 'Adventure Socks'), and they charge about £12.50 for a pair. Some are guaranteed 100% blister free – what do you do if you get a blister? Take a photo and send it to them to complain?

‘Look, you can get a special bag to put your muddy boots in!’ I’m quite excited by this, as said bag is ‘boot shaped’.
‘Or, you could just use a carrier bag!’.

I didn’t buy any shoes. After all, these things need consideration. But I have great admiration for Cat’s tolerance, and for resisting chucking some of the shoes at me.

*All good walks need a tea shop or a pub, possibly both, en route.