I have many pairs of boots. None of them fit me quite right. I tell myself my feet are still growing. This can’t be true- I am over 40 years old. I have one pair of Merrill walking shoes that really do seem to fit me but the other day they gave me blisters. Plus they are not boots and for long distances I must have boots! I am a boot man, always have been. In my search for the perfect boot I have been very lax. For example I own numerous pairs of Timberland type boots – none of which really fit me very well. I wouldn’t put up with a crap book or a car that wasn’t right so how come I am so cavalier about boots? Maybe there is some kind of masochism at work, deep down I actually like getting sore feet. Or, perhaps, I sense at some almost unconscious level that really I should be walking barefoot. In a move this way I have started desert walking in sandals. They’re great- for a day or three- but longer than that and the skin starts getting rubbed raw. Fact is, I spend too long in socks and shoes not walking very far at all. My feet are too soft. Hmm, this is a familiar thought too. Maybe I should have been a monkey. On one 700km hike I had blisters on the very last day, and even then I was hoping I had finally cracked the problem…but look at it positively: I still managed to finish the walk. And the memory of all that limping pain just seems unreal, disregardable.