Boots Feet Boots Feet

 I would think THE most important thing that you need to succesfully cover long distances is a good pair of well fitting boots, Peoples feet are like their finger prints, Everybodies are different, Without going to great expense and getting custom made boots you will have to try on a lots of different makes and sizes, Over the years i have used Northface, Lowe, Salomom, Merrells and Columbia, I have to say that out of the box the columbia were soooo comfortable, But and there is always a but they did not last long, All the Merrells i have had have been very good and great value, I have had a couple of pairs of Northface and both were good but my feet seem to like Salomons, Last year i purchased a pair of their X Ultra Gore-tex Mid Hiking shoes, I got them from Campmor which is a great on line shop, Their service and prices are also excellent, I could not find them cheaper anywhere, Since receiveing the boots i have put around 700 miles on them, mainly on trails near my home along with some road walking and even shopping, They still look very good and are extremely comfortable, I have never had a blister or even a hot spot even walking nearly 17 miles in a day, I knew that before i go on the Camino De Santiago i would probably need a new pair and that it would again be Salomon, I viewed their website and suddenly i had that feeling when you see a pretty girl across the bar, Love at first sight in the form of their Wings Sky GTX 2, In orange and black they looked awesome, I looked everywhere for a better price as the $250 was out of my budget by around 50%, Nothing, Everywhere was the same, Not a penny less, Then i had all but given up when just before Xmas i was on Amazon when i noticed these at around $180, Wow now how can i get the money together quickly?, I went to the bottom of the page to read the reviews where i noticed a small tab with a code on it, I put the boots into my cart and entered the code in the promotions box and bang another 25% off so now $130, SOLD, I have only managed to walk around the house in them until today when i hiked a trail on the MST which was a little over 11 miles, The boots were fine, No hotspots or blisters, A word of warning is that they seem a tad big for their size whereas my other salomons are bang on for their size, I ordered the new boots half a size bigger and when they arrived i thought that they would be too big but after todays walk i think that they will be fine, Like when you put your backpack on you adjust the straps to how you want it to fit so you do with the boots, I walked about 40 mins before stopping and readjusting them tighter, This seemed fine my feet were locked in place but about a mile before the end my right foot felt tight, I guess my foot had swollen a bit so i loosened the laces a tad and all was well, When you walk 'listen' to your feet, If you feel the boots are too tight or too loose readjust them, If you are getting a hotspot stop and let your feet rest and breathe, the last thing you want is a blister, Miserable things that can be stopped if you are proactive, I used my ultra light Smartsocks and had no problems, No liner or 'grease', I would highly recommend Salomons to anybody but remember whats good for my feet may not be for yours,

 The boots have very good grip, Are much lighter than other boots i have tried and have a small skirt at the back of the ankle to stop stones etc dropping in, There is a locking clip around ankle height that grip your laces which is a great feature,Well thought out and you can feel the quality

Dave