A hard frost and snow shower overnight had once again given the canal a frozen snow covered skin as i headed towards Hungerford (18 mile out and return), sunny with a chilly wind.
Heading through Hungerford to the marsh area enables me to turn towards the high street via an impressive church where a fair number of snow drops were flowering despite the frozen ground (sorry about photo quality).
After my last hike this way i had been informed of where to find a small shop that produced bacon rolls and coffe. Now smell and taste are a combination of senses that can evoke hopes and memories, we have all seen people on tv getting very verbose over the bouquet of a fine wine, well for this hiker on such a day the smell of a bacon roll is aromatherapy and the shop didn’t dissapoint.
A note on training/kit:
Back in late summer i started using a pair of karrimor boots which i’m sure have done 4-5 hundred miles, and have been excellent keeping my feet warm and dry through some pretty testing weather.
During training several small aches in places various have come and gone, no great suprises or concern there, i had been concerned about my knees which were somewhat damaged a dozen years ago but these have improved with little trouble. Mid Autum i did have a spell of throbbing large toes after long hikes but this strange sensation stopped some time ago. Sunday a 7 mile loop was followed by an evening of aching, warm and slightly swollen ankle area ( shin splint) which perhaps i should feel happy was only in my left leg, today as expected the sensation dissapeared after half an hours walking but on the way back it became very noticable (oh this won’t do but whats the cause), i did consider my pushing the pace or maybe cold weather but on getting home i decided to inspect the boots and on removing the insole find the mid sole structure (and the heal to a less extent) seem to be a collapsing honey comb structure, hopeing this is causing the problem i’m switching to a pair of Hi tech pathfinder boots for a while.
Hi John, perhaps you should invest in some orthopaedic insoles? i have some which support my arches this is supposed to prevent shin splints, its also comfortable walking, i may be deluding myself but they seem to stop my feet sliding into the front of my boots and prevent sore toes?!
worth a try tho at about £25 not that cheap.
Hi Andy,
And thanks very much for the response, i’m certainly open to all suggestions at the moment, it certainly came as a nasty suprise when things had been going so well, insoles were my first thought as a hiker i know had shown me his some time ago, so they are on my maybe list but as the midsole of the boots seem to be collapsing it maybe that i can only get 500 miles out of a pair of cheap boots. (that i could live with).
Today i did just 4 miles across town in a new pair which i can say was not perfect but more comfortable than yesterday afternoon, so will stick to takeing it easy for a few days and see if improvement continues, also have been looking at some different boots, i have some hi tech’s that seem to provide more ankle support and have considered some berghaus.
Must say thanks for posting your campsite list which has added a few more options to my route.
John