The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Monday 20 December 2010

Imelda Marcos of Walking Shoes

I just heard Mick refer to me, during a phone conversation, as being “The Mrs. Marcos of Walking Shoes”. A justifiable accusation? I had a quick off-the-top-of-my-head tot-up. The current collection comprises:

  • Inov8 Roclite (on last legs, but still used every now and then)
  • Inov8 Terrocs (original pair, resurrected. Holes in heels, but still useable)
  • Inov8 Terrocs (holed in heels, but good for a few miles yet)
  • Salomon XA Pro 3D XCR (on last legs)
  • Salomon XA Pro 3D (holed heel, but still plenty of tread)
  • Salomon XA Pro 3D (still have their tags attached, but Achilles tendonitis scuppered my plan to use them on the K2CW walk)
  • Salomon Exit Low
  • Salomon Elios Mid XCR (no longer waterproof, but still okay good for local walking)
  • Salomon Elios Mid XCR (barely used)
  • Meindl Magic lows
  • Scarpa ZG10
  • Scarpa ZG65 (the pair I used for LEJOG, now on last legs but I just can’t quite bring myself to bin them)
  • Scarpa ZG65 (would be used more if the left one was as comfy as the original pair)
  • Brasher Supalites (the slippers of the walking boot world!)
  • Gelert something or others (never used as walking boots, but really warm for general wear in winter)

11 comments:

  1. And the problem is?!
    (My weakness is jackets...)

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  2. Exactly! (Well, apart from the lack of space in the bottom of my wardrobe.)

    So, how many jackets constitutes a weakness (not that I'm about to start counting my collection...)?

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  3. Get some La Sportive trail shoes as well. They are superb and you need to have choices which seems to be lacking in that list ;)

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  4. Good Grief, Woman! Get a grip! LOSE the SHOES!

    *shakes head and mumbles woeful stuff about ex-wives' shoes, dresses handbags, face creams... to fade*

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  5. Off the top of my head, twelve, but I know there are more. In my defence, they are not all technical/outdoor, some are casual. But they still take up a lot of space that is less easily overlooked, as it were, than shoes on the bottom of the wardrobe. And weather is tricky, koff.

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  6. Martin - I've got my hands over my ears and am chanting 'la la la' so as not to hear any temptations to go and look at makes of shoes currently missing from my collection!

    Alan - In my defence I've only got four or five pairs of work/non-outdoorsy shoes (at least two of which are in the last throes of last leggedness), only own (and have only ever owned) one handbag, and don't really go in for facecreams (except for the anti-wrinkle cream Mick bought me last Christmas). Hopefully that helps justify my inability to part with any of my walking footwear!

    Louise - off the top of my head (and trying not to think too thoroughly): 2 down jackets; 3 windproof; 1 primaloft; 5 waterproof (one of which you egged me on to buy!); 1 fleecy gardening jacket; 1 cheap and cheerful insulated (not-very-)waterproof; 1 'presentable' work winter coat. Hmmm. Wish I hadn't even started to think about now - I had been of the belief that my jacket collection was quite modest!

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  7. I think it's all perfectly justifiable. I don't know how, it just is!

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  8. (And I'm sure it was a brilliant choice of jacket, btw!)

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  9. Scores on the doors for me are:

    x3 Inov-8 shoes
    X1 Salomon
    X1 La Sportive
    X2 pair boots I would wear
    X1 pair boots I wont use

    So you're not alone and I need more shoes.

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  10. Louise - I would agree (on both points!)

    Martin - Only 8 pairs of wearable walking shoes? That sounds far too sensible a number!

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  11. I've got 3 pairs of shoes/boots, 2 pairs of jeans and 3 jackets (well two and a share in the third one).

    We've had to cut back on buying gear (well one of us has) since our semi-retirement, you know.

    Though I am allowed to carry as many tents as I like.

    Word = cakes. Very festive

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