FOOTWEAR FOCUS ROAD TEST
in a horse gently or doing it the way cowboys do. My latest “road test” is a walking boot from Alt-Berg.
Outdoor Footwear W
hen I went to school we bought our new school shoes some time before the term started to break them in, so we didn’t return from school on the first day with painful blisters. A bit like breaking
Sounds sort of continental but it ain’t. Alt-Berg boots are made by a small firm in Richmond, Yorkshire, started by the owner and senior boot-maker Mike Sheehan in 1989. The reason I mentioned my school shoe breaking
Alt-Berg say that the Tethera is specifically designed for use on the high
Lakeland fells or Munro mountains of Scotland. I hope they don’t mind that I put my pair through its paces on Cornwall’s rugged coastline. Despite being a rugged boot designed for rugged conditions the boots
were surprisingly lightweight. Despite the forecast, the weather held for the weekend, but a paddle on the waterline (not really recommended for an expensive pair of boots, but necessary in the cause of road test “science”) revealed boot that was ship shape and Bristol fashion.
experience is that it make sense to break in a shoe or boot; to wear it around the house before you wear it outside, to make sure it is comfortable. This is especially the case if you are planning a major expedition – the last thing you want is to have the misery of nursing blisters after a day’s hiking in a new pair of boots. But, I didn’t have a choice. I’d arranged to go camping in Cornwall to test a new tent and others were depending on me. I simply didn’t have the time to break in my Alt-Berg Tethera boots.
Henry Harington breaks in his Alt-Berg Tethera boots and tries out his new Vango tent
Neat cleats There is one feature of the boot that absolutely thrilled me (I am easily
pleased). I spend a lot of time putting on and taking off shoes and boots – I live in the country and with walking and working outside or running, I might change my shoes three or four times a day. With a lot of boots, drawing the laces can be surprisingly time consuming, because when you have pulled one section tight, another slackens. The Tethera boot has, in place of one set of eyes or metal hooks, a pair of
cleats. I call them cleats, as the only other place I have witnessed such devices is on a yacht for securing sheets (ropes). You can tug the sheet through the cleat, which grasps it and stops it returning. On the Tethera there are mini cleats that prevent your laces loosening in the same way. It is no problem undoing the shoe and the laces uncleat with a satisfying “snap”. I am sure that one day all boots will be like this. I can see why Alt-Berg boots have thrived on the personal
When we arrived at the campsite by the sea, there were hoards of young
men and women with surfboards, kayaks, bicycles all planning adventures along the coast. We quickly erected the Vango Aruba 400 tent. The colour coding of the aluminium poles made the process remarkably simple. One of its great features is that it has enough standing room for tall people. It also has a fully sewn-in PVC groundsheet, and pre-attached guy lines with guy tidies mean you have the right guy in the right place and you don’t lose them when you decamp. The Aruba is a four-man tent and the rear bedroom would take four people
comfortably. However, if you were not dining at a table in the anteroom – you could sleep an extra half dozen. To balance the light materials it is reinforced at vulnerable points, the pole sleeves are heavy duty and it boasts a storm skirt system. You could sit or sleep in comfort and security with the weather pulverising lesser tents like the ones surrounding us.
Vertigo, but no blisters! The next day we went tramping along the coastal path. It is rocky and
vertiginous in places. On such an outing, your boots, let alone your feet can receive quite a bashing. Recalling that I had not had the time to break in these boots, the result was pretty amazing. I returned from the day with no hint of a blister or any discomfort.
recommendation of their comfort, durability by users and why they are specified for the Ministry of Defence for soldiers operating in harsh desert and jungle conditions in Iraq, and Afghanistan. Use by the military is always a recommendation, come to think of it my first Vango tent was recommended by a Royal Marine Commando friend.
Details:
Alt-Berg Tethera boot - RRP £160.00
Tel: 01748 850615
Web:
www.altberg.co.uk Aruba 400 –
RRP: £575 Trade: £225 Tel: 01475 746000
Web:
www.vango.co.uk/
16 • FOOTWEAR TODAY
• OCTOBER 2010
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