Road-Worn

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Pictured - I guess weirdly, if I'm honest - are my boots. On the left my current daily wear, and to their right, my originals. The astute observer will note that, apart from age and wear, they are identical. The original pair I bought ten, maybe fifteen years - more likely the latter, I really can't remember - ago. The new ones are just broken in and in constant use. They are German-made, and go by the brand name Waldläufer, or ranger; literally, a forest walker in English. To say they are superb is a bloody understatement: they are comfortable from the first wearing - when I said that the new ones were broken in, I really should have said christened by the outdoors - they are lighter than any boot this durable has a right to be, and wear like carpet slippers. Both pairs were bought from Dick's Discount Shoes on Anglesey; the originals costing around eighty quid, discounted from well over a hundred, but still not cheap. 

Their replacements last year were a hundred and thirty pounds, discounted from nearer two hundred. It sounds like a lot until you factor in the sheer wear-resistance, tenacity and longevity of this footwear, let alone the comfort.To be fair, I could have have worn the old ones for another ten years, as they are still pretty much waterproof, still comfortable, have minimal wear evident given the fact that they are my normal daily footwear of choice for most of the year, and are still on the original [stretched but barely worn at all] laces. The main reason for getting a new pair was the wear to the heel grips - I'm very hard on shoes and boots - which had started to make winter wearing a tad more treacherous. I still use the old pair for gardening and general mooching about, where I don't need steel toecaps [my old work boots cover for that], so that I don't mess the new ones up.

All in all, these represent the finest footwear I've ever worn, and over time, the best value as well. I'm still hoping, however, that despite being seventy-one [still rings strangely to me], I'll still have to replace the new ones when they too are a little worn down. Always the optimist, eh?

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