As I may have mentioned at some point, I'm walking the 2020 London Marathon this weekend.
The weather forecast is for rain and I've been thinking about the best shoes to wear for 26.2 miles of potentially very wet off-road walking.
My favourite walking shoes for long walks are my Merrell Cham 7 shoes because they really support my arches and the soles seem just right for brisk walking. The problem though, is that they are very non-waterproof - as in, my feet get soaked within minutes of it starting to rain. The water goes straight through the red mesh.
I also have Scarpa and Salomon waterproof (GTX) walking shoes, but they're well used and both pairs will let in water eventually and then take longer to dry out again than the Merrells. And, of course, they're not as good as the Merrells for long distances.
This morning, I had an idea... I've got a pair of Bridgedale waterproof socks (Stormsock Midweight Boot) that I've only worn on one occasion. That was in Scotland and I wore them in my Scarpa Boots on an extremely boggy walk. My feet remained perfectly dry, despite my boots spending a lot of time ankle-deep in water. However, when I took the boots off, I realised they hadn't let in any water during the walk and so the socks hadn't been tested at all!
It was pouring with rain this morning and I wondered what would happen if I wore my waterproof socks in my totally non-waterproof Merrells. So I went for a 10+ mile walk to find out.
I chose a route that wouldn't be unlike the marathon route I've planned - a mixture of good paths and poor ones, and across fields and through woods. The rain didn't let up one bit and the ground was thoroughly soaked, so it was a challenging test for the socks!
Setting off down the farm track... and into the woods:
At times, water was running along the paths and I had to splosh through some areas where the water was ankle-deep...
The result:
I walked in very wet conditions for two-and-a-half hours in meshy shoes in non-stop rain and my feet remained completely dry. The socks work!
The Bridgedales are quite thick and I'd thought that my feet would get too warm, but they didn't. Remarkably, they stayed very comfortable right to the end. The socks do get wet on the outside and my theory is that on a moderate day like today, the cooling effect of a wet outer sock layer in well-ventilated shoes stopped my feet from getting too warm. On top of that, the socks are quite well-cushioned and they really did feel good to walk in.
So I'm sorted for Sunday. I can wear my Merrell shoes whatever the weather!
