Well I went into Cotswold Outdoors in Keswick today and tried to get some Scarpa Maverick GTX as recommended by some of you and also in the article Alli furnished me with. However, at the start, I complained to the salesman that I’m having a lot of trouble with painful toe ends and am wondering whether my feet could possibly have grown (I thought it both unlikely and impossible). So, he measured my feet and… I’ve gone from about a 7 and a half / 8 to a size 9! That rules out women’s shoes for me now. Apparently your feet can get longer with age!
He only had size 12 and above in the men’s Mavericks so I had a look around the men’s section and found some synthetic Merrells (in blue-grey which is a bit weird). Anyway, these fitted a treat so I bought them. They also come with a 3 year guarantee which I thought pretty good.
So, I’m good to go on Thursday when my friend comes to take me hillwalking 🙂
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The Adventures of a Mountain Coward 
Glad you managed to get something sorted out!
When I was 18 my feet were a size 6. Now I’m a 7 1/2 or an 8. Weird.
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I googled it for a while and they’re saying it’s because your foot collapses with time but I’m fairly sure my feet are completely healthy and uncollapsed – none of my tendons are complaining anyway!
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Lisa has had Merrells and liked them. Those Scarpas sounded good. I’ve always wanted a pair.
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I’m probably still going to try and get some Scarpas for winter – I’ve bought approach shoes again and the Scarpas are more of a boot which will be nice in the winter weather.
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Well done and happy future walking.
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Thanks Bob – I’m busy breaking them in. I tried driving again the other day and found it okay so now I’ll be able to drive to the hills again so will be going more often. But I’ll still be using the buses quite a bit until the end of March when the price goes up from £2 per journey and back to the exorbitant normal!
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Maybe sizing of shoes and other clothing items is changing. I see a wide range of sizes that fit me across different brands.
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sizes are generally all over the place but absolutely ALL my shoes have started hurting me over the last couple of years no matter how well they used to fit – slipper too. So I figured there was something going on with my feet!
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Yes, it seems that is true. I hope you get a pair that makes you feel right.
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the new ones seem okay so far – grippy enough anyway which is the main thing!
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Same here. I used to be a 7.5-8, now I’m an 8.5-9!
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it’s really weird – my arches haven’t dropped or anything so how did my/our feet get longer?!
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Yes, 30 years ago I took a size 6 boot, about 10 years ago I realised I was weirdly struggling with boots and now have a size 7, Wide fitting…
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I knew feet spread but I never knew they lengthened before yesterday! Weird isn’t it…
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I’ve been finding a lot of footwear “doesn’t like” my feet. Salomon Speedcross 5 do though. They aren’t boots, and aren’t waterproof, but are comfy and have excellent traction.
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well most of my walking footwear isn’t boots – rather approach shoes or similar. I presume your Salomons have leather on them though? If they haven’t, I might look some up as traction is VERY important to me…
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I know about those growing feet. I have a couple of them too. Good luck with the new shoes.
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I’m amazed how many people are responding to this and saying their feet have grown too! I was thinking I was an anomaly!
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I didn’t know that about feet growing with age! Not noticed mine expanding yet, but give it time… 🙂
Anyway, glad to hear you found something suitable that fits nicely in the end. Hope these ones fare considerably better than your last pairs. Do let us know how you get on after you’ve road-tested, or more accurately I suppose, hill-tested them. 🙂
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I took them out for a quickie today – they seem okay. They need to bed in a bit but seemed safe and non-slip which is a consideration for me.
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Early signs are encouraging then! New boots always need bedding in, and I tend to think of it as you and them needing to get to know each other, and they need to mold themselves to your own unique feet. Fingers crossed you and your new boots are at the start of a beautiful relationship! 😀
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I’m wearing them with socks at the moment but, come summer, I prefer to walk without socks so they’ll need to be worn in by then. I went out in them yesterday and again today…
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Without socks? That’s brave – why’s that? If I did that I’d just end up limping around with an impressive collection of blisters. 😉
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It’s mostly because I usually get wet feet at some point and I don’t mind wet feet inside my shoes but I can’t stand wet socks! Also, in summer, I’d find it too hot to wear socks.
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Yes, feet can get bigger! In my twenties I was 4 1/2, a few years later I was a 5, and now my walking boots are a 6, at 70 years old. Who knew? Ha ha.
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the amount of replies I’m getting similar to yours is amazing! I had no idea this could happen
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