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  • apologies in advance for the long and tedious post:

    Walking shoes

    I walk a fair bit, and consequently like to have a pair of comfortable, robust shoes with decent soles.

    I don't like goretex lined shoes, which sadly rules out about 90% of the walking shoes on the market.

    I also have an ankle injury from a bad break 30 odd years ago, which means my shoes wear unevenly and my feet aren't that similar. The heal bone on the "bad" foot sticks out a bit, and I wear out a patch inside the heal cup on all my shoes .

    During lockdown 1, I had a fairly cheap pair of Merrell canvas shoes which were decent. They had a rather soft sole which wore down quite quickly. For the price, though, I had no complaints.

    When they needed replacing, I thought I'd get something a bit more durable, so started to look around with these criteria:

    Low cut (below ankle)
    Leather upper with no waterproof liner
    Vibram or similar quality cleated sole

    In the end I found these:

    https://www.alpinetrek.co.uk/lundhags-stuore-low-multisport-shoes/

    and these

    https://www.addnature.co.uk/lowa-pinto-ll-low-shoes-men-M137471.html?vgid=G916890

    I bought the Lowa Pinto as they looked a bit more shoe and less boot like.

    First problem:
    I found my ankle hurt a lot whilst walking in them. Sometimes that passes with time, so I thought I'd just bear with it. I now wonder if this is something to do with the relatively narrow sole at the heal? Could be nothing to do with this but I just thought it could be (see pic).

    Second problem:
    Within a short time, the inside of the heal on the "bad" foot side had worn through the leather liner - not a problem in itself, any lined shoes I own go this way after a while. The problem is that between the lining and the leather outer, there is some kind of plastic cup. I now have the hard edge of this plastic thing digging into my ankle, just above my heal bone. Being plastic, it isn't moulding to the shape of my foot like a bit of leather would.

    So now I have these nearly new shoes, which set me back £180, and I don't know what to do with them. If I cover the inside of the heal area with a bit of gaffer tape, and wear two pairs of socks, the heal issue is more or less ok. But I don't think I'm ever really going to get much use out of these. Send them back to Lowa and see if I can get a discount on another (different) pair? Sell on eBay with full disclosure on the heal wear? Dunno.

    I am disappoint with these.

  • Lumpy heels (haglunds deformity in my case and indeed narrow heel) eat shoes if fit not good. If at all similar to mine take care as I have previously caused bursitis by continuing to wear once throughout through to plastic heel cup.
    I have no real answer other than trying lots of shoes. I need the heel to be well below/above my lump and minimal sliding. I sometimes use heel lock lacing. I previously have used duct tape, sniper tape or even glued in shiny orthopaedic foam, but I think these all need applying prophylactically.

    On the Scarpa recommendation and similar in styling I have these https://www.bergzeit.co.uk/scarpa-mojito-basic-shoe/ sole a reasonably robust vibram number and lacing to toe should allow a fine tuned fit for most.

  • Thanks - yes, I have worn ill fitting shoes for too long in the past so now try to avoid against my natural instinct that "it'll probably be ok".

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