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.
