I bought them ten years ago for roughly £80: money well spent (when I bought them, the shopkeeper said that's roughly £80, please - so I gave him £80 roughly).
Anyway. The first walk in them was in the Lake District in 1999 and lasted 8 or 9 hours (unlike 1999 itself which lasted 365 days, both in the Lake District and elsewhere), and I gained not a single blister.
Since then they've been on my feet when walking in many parts of the Lake District (including the hair-raising Striding Edge), the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District, the Highlands of Scotland, Mull, Arthur's Seat, the Alps and many more places besides. They've been totally reliable for all this time and all those miles I've walked, but finally the soles went, and that and the other wear and tear on them meant it was time.
They've had their last walk (which I believe was my most recent toddle around parts of the Peak District with Fire Byrd), and sadly it's time for them to go. Call me ridiculously sentimental, but it's like saying goodbye to an old friend.
I almost felt a certain guilt when buying myself a new pair yesterday.
11 comments:
They were good old friends. Maybe they should be bronzed.
Well you'd better get the new ones broken in for our next walk.
And just think the new ones won't let in water!!!
xx
I wish, zhoen, or that they could be stuffed or something. It's one of those rare occasions where something which is mere product has become so much more than that.
Fire Byrd, it's more than likely that our next walk is what breaks these new boots in...the waterproofing never gave out on the old ones actually. The only times I remember having wet feet in these boots is when it was raining so hard that the water dripped down from my leggings, rather than them letting water through any other way.
RIP boots! I too have an affinity with my boots, a pair of dulcet pink timberlands that the mountain guides took great delight in making fun of during my epic Ben Nevis climb - still got me to the top and down again, so they couldn't have been that bad!
Goodbye boots.
heres hoping you have as many good memories whilst wearing these new boots
I like the idea of stuffed boots, Trousers, and yours are very good looking in a real rockanroll/beat kind of a way. Ten years is a very good innings. I have had my black Doc Martens for much longer - about 17 years. But the thing is I haven't done much of what you might call walking in them. And when I have they give me blisters. So just for show really.
Know what you mean Trousers.
I too am attached to me old tings.
A duvet from the 1970s is still with me and I wear it in the cold winter and it remains keeping me warm
A couple of quality shirts remain with me too and younger folk often ask me where I got that shirt from.
The sad case however was from last year when i needed to throw away my 1999 condom ... alas.
Thanks Janette - I'm sure the mountain guides would have made far more fun of me if I'd been wearing them...
Indeed, deej - not that I've got round to actually disposing of them yet. They're sat forlornly on the doorstep.
I hope so, Lady - perhaps I'll blog my first walk in the new ones..
Stuffed boots, Signs? Yes, a novel idea - as mentioned above, I'm still reluctant to dispose of them. Shame about the blisters on your DMs - though I haven't been the owner of a pair of DMs for a while, I do remember them as a solid, sturdy, practical shoe as well as being smart and comfortable. No I'm not even on commission.
zola, I see you know the kind of pain I'm talking about..
You've replaced your faithful old boots?!
How could you???!!! :-)
I held on for a week, J.J, before finally doing the deed: it wasn't easy. Don't make me feel any more guilt!
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