In the Good Old Days, when boots were only made of hard leather and vibram soles were held on by screws, then it was de rigeur to wear two pairs of socks. Tradition demanded a long pair, preferably red and ideally worn over the trousers (corduroy of course) and a short pair, light grey woolly, rolled down over the top of the boots. Mrs N still has a picture of me thus attired, taken a fair way up the Jungfrau. The ensemble is rounded off with a bright bright orange canvass anorak.
These days boot and sock technology has come on a bit. Now I just wear one pair, often but not exclusively, Bridgedales. I had a brief flirtation with lined socks but the outer and inners shrunk at different rates and they soon became uncomfortable.
That said, I still think it is the sign of a true Rambler to be seen traditionally attired with one set of socks over the trousers bottoms and a second over the boot cuff. As I understand it, only Master Ramblers are allowed to wear red socks these days.