Above: my trusty walking boots. We have travelled many miles together, up hill and down dale, in all seasons, over countless stiles, across wintry streams, through pine forests and snowdrifts and last Friday along a farm track that was knee-deep in mud and cow dung. Lovely! You will be pleased to learn that I washed them in the kitchen sink and then slowly dried them on a radiator. It was in that process that I realised the rubber soles were so worn down that little useful grip was left behind. It was time for a new pair of boots!
Now two and a half years ago, I won £230 by betting that my football team (Hull City) would win promotion to the Premier League. That money was simply languishing in an online account so I decided to liberate it and spend a chunk of it on some new boots.
I bought them in Rotherham on Sunday afternoon and they are pictured below. Size 12 Scarpa Cyclone GTX boots costing £90. They may look little different from the old boots but they cost twice as much. I wore them all day yesterday just to try and bed them in. I even wore them at the pub quiz in "The Rising Sun". Men were looking at me whispering, "He's wearing Cyclone GTX! He must be made of money!" The Gore-Tex fabric on the uppers will keep my feet nice and dry and the rubber tread will see me sticking to slippery surfaces like a gecko. Hopefully, these two boots and I have as many miles ahead of us as I covered in my faithful old pair. Scary to say but it is very possible that they will be the last boots I ever buy....
That sounds like a Chinese blessing of some kind: "May you buy MANY more boots in your future."
ReplyDelete(Or maybe a curse.)
At any rate, nice boots!
Walking around in Scarpa Cyclone GTX is like driving down the street in a Cadillac. I can detect your envy from afar Steve - wafting up the M1 motorway.
DeleteMud and cow dung .. Kitchen sink. Charming. I would have had your guts for garters to keep my walking socks up if you did that in my kitchen sink.
ReplyDeleteFortunately "She Who Must Be Obeyed" was at work and didn't know about this activity Carol..... Err..Why no comments on your blog now? I was going to explain the meaning of life.
DeleteAs many miles as you walk, I seriously doubt that those will be your last pair of boots!
ReplyDeleteSee what I said to Peace Thyme Mama Jennifer.
DeleteWhy? Do you plan on not trekking anymore? If you don't keep walking, where will my mind and my trusty online map take me whilst I drink my morning coffee?
ReplyDeleteMy father died at 65 and my oldest brother at 62. I do not expect to be a wizened old man.
DeleteMy dad died at 36, my mom at 58. I'm 69 and still going pretty strong. When I bought my RAV4 in 2006, I expected it would be my last car. The only prediction I can make with confidence these days is that I'm sure to live until April 16 of whatever year I start because that's the day after taxes are due. I hope you manage to be buried in whatever pair of hiking boots you still own when you're 105.
DeleteAw! You are so sweet Jan!
DeleteI well remember my friend, in her eighties now, buying her 'last' car about four cars ago :-)
DeleteGiven that you bought your old boots in 1964, it is little wonder that the new ones cost twice as much :)
ReplyDeleteHa! Ha! I am glad to see that they have at last released you from Strangeways Ian!
DeleteInteresting how we have different expressions. You "bed in" your new boots. We would "break in" new boots.
ReplyDeleteI could have also used "break in" Mary but "bedding in" alludes to my big feet nestling into the insoles.
DeleteHope you scrubbed the kitchen sink afterwards!
ReplyDeleteBloody hell - you sound like my mother Libby!
Delete"These boots are made for walking,
ReplyDeleteand that's just what they'll do..."
Now I have Nancy Sinatra's voice in my head for the rest of the evening.
Your new boots look eager to start taking you along winding country lanes and rocky paths on the moors! I hope they'll be as comfortable for hiking as they appear.
Maybe for my birthday next year in March I'll treat myself (or have someone treat me) to new running shoes. My current ones are still good, but some of the netting on top has split and that doesn't look good. You know how vain and shallow I am - even when I'm just out for a run on the fiels, I want to look my best, which is not possible anymore in those trainers.
My birthday is in March as well! March 23....when is yours?
DeleteHey Jennifer! March 23rd is Shirley's birthday too!
DeleteMarch 22!!!
DeleteWow!!! I'm surprised to hear that I share a birthday with Lady Yorkshire and ALMOST share one with you, too!! I always say that Good People are born in March!
DeleteMy younger bother Simon's birthday is on March 22nd!
DeleteEnjoy your new boots. They make a big difference in comfort and safety.
ReplyDeleteI just hope they turn out to be as comfortable as the old ones Red. They are a little bit tight at the moment.
DeleteMay you enjoy many hours of walking pleasure in your boots.
ReplyDeleteI shall always wear them when fixed on pleasure!
DeleteMy grandfather believed he would die at 82 since both his father and only brother did. He lived to be 91. You'll live as long as the good Lord allows.
ReplyDeleteIf you cleaned your gross boots in my kitchen, I'd toss them in the yard. I trained my kids to leave their rubber boots neatly lined up out of the way (after tripping over them too many times) by threatening to toss them and then following through. My son's boots were occasionally found in the yard.....
...But Hilly, we have nowhere else where boots can be cleaned. It had to be the kitchen sink. Better than the bathroom.
DeleteYou should've soaked them in the kitchen sink to soften them up a bit and get the smell of being already worn-in. After all, the remnants of your old boots would've lingered in the sink - particularly the cow dung! lol
ReplyDeleteI'm with Carol...I, too, would've had your guts for garters if you'd washed your old boots in my kitchen sink!!! Tsk! Tsk!
DeleteI love the term "guts for garters"...I use it often...and only a couple of days ago I threatened a friend with it...saying I would do similar to him if he dared turn up on my doorstep without forewarning! I think he's now running scared..or, at least, riding scared. He's about to head off on a road trip to North Queensland on his Harley!
How much will you pay Carol and me to keep our mouths shut and not tell Shirley?
If you tell Shirley I shall have your guts for garters and I shall also contact the manager of the local "IGA" and tell him that you have escaped from a correctional facility!
DeleteScarpa are okay but they don't seem wide enough for my webbed feet. I spend that much on wellies.
ReplyDeleteI also have wide feet Adrian. They are pinching a little but for ninety quid I shall of course persist.
DeleteScarpas - the Rolls Royce of walking boots - you'd better stay out of that cow muck in those boots.
ReplyDeleteMs Soup
I have already plodded across a cow field! Your warning has come too late for the ground was like soup!
Delete