Walking about with Hard Wearing Soles

[john west]

Have been looking for some solid *long lasting *walking shoes, and have seen these:

Brasher Country Traveller GTX Men's Walking shoe

A picture of them is in this site:

It says the sole is Countrymaster rubber sole.

I'm mainly stomping pavements, would this likely to be a hard wearing sole would anyone know? I'm tired of soles that seem to wear out by themselves just by putting the shoes on.

Thanks

[Bob Hobden]

They are a well known brand in the walking boot/shoe business so should be fine for your requirements provided they are comfortable with the right socks on. I use two pairs of socks, a thin liner pair and then the chunky walking socks.

My own preference for walking boots are Zamberlan leather boots which have Vibram soles which grip and are hard wearing. However I do try to avoid pavements and tend to be found offroad.

The only way to buy walking boots is to go to a shop and try them on, a proper shop will have a slope so you can feel if your foot slips inside the boot. You may find, like me, that you need a bigger size than you normally do.

[Bill Wright]

I had pair after pair of these when I was working, as they looked decent but were great for walking on roofs etc. I still wear a pair every day and I have kept two old pairs for garage work etc. They are comfy once broken in and the soles last OK, but there are two drawbacks. They let water in after a few years no matter how careful you are with them, and the supplied laces are abysmal. You'll need to replace the laces with proper ones. You'll think I'm wrong when you get the boots but after a month the laces will be shagged.

When I need new boots I'll get a pair of these despite the drawbacks.

Bill

[Allan]

I've found that the Brasher boots are not very long lasting: they good lightweight boots, and if you accept them for that, they're fine. Barsher are not made in the UK any more (despite the name). Road/pavement walking does not do hiking boots any favours, so trail shoes would probably fare better. +1 to the other poster suggesting going to a half-decent walking shop where they'll fit you up correctly (hopefully), and +1 to Zamberlan & Vibram soles.

[newshound]

The "Hoggs" shoes and boots from Countrywide Farmers are pretty good, and less than half the price. In fact I've used Countrywide shoes almost exclusively for work for about 15 years.