Despite this being the WalkingForum.co.
uk, I sometimes wonder if a good many members actually believe that hiking only takes place in hilly national parks on barren terrain. And if it doesn’t happen there, then it doesn’t really count.
Two season boots; three season boots; boots that are only suitable for low-level summer walks. This country has more than scrubby moorland and stony hills you know - in fact, we have great swathes of ancient woodland, green rolling hills and lots of mud as well, and so much more.
Pictured below are my favourite
four season trail shoes. Like most of the shoes I wear all year round, the Inov-8 TrailFly Ultra G300 Max shoes are not in the slightest bit waterproof, but they are comfortable enough to wear all day and cope brilliantly with all but sloppy clay terrain. At a bit over 300g, they’re not my lightest shoes, but they’re still a lot lighter than most boots!
I wore the Trailfly shoes on our trail marathon through the Kent Downs AONB last Midwinter Day together with my lightest Bridgedale Coolmax (non-waterproof!) socks. My feet weren’t cold and when they got wet they dried quite quickly.
My wife did choose to wear waterproof socks in her very lightweight non-waterproof Merrell Moab Flight Trail shoes. Even wading across fords, her feet stayed dry.
I watched a video on YouTube the other day where an experienced long-distance hiker was explaining why he had stopped wearing boots in favour of highly breathable, lightweight trail runners. He said that with trail runners, it was like putting on comfortable socks - because they mould themselves to the shape of your foot, while leaving the necessary wiggle room in the toe box. On the other hand, you put your feet
into boots…