Shoes, glorious shoes; trainers, loafers and sandals…..

(If you’ve seen ‘Oliver!’ you may have sung that line. Else you just think I’m an idiot. Both these things are potentially valid)

Since we’re going to be spending a lot more time walking once we get on the road this fall I thought I should follow my wife’s lead and try to buy some comfortable walking shoes and sandals that would be up to the task. My current sandals are Columbia and they are okay comfort-wise but not awesome for serious walking. Maybe partly because they are YEARS old and have lost the thread. I have several pairs of shoes but they all have a purpose. Sadly, none of them serve the purpose of ‘walking around for a really long time’.

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I have kind of always hated shoe shopping. I think perhaps one too many experiences where it they felt fine in the store but after 3 or 4 hours of wear I was miserable? I’m not a ‘take things back to the store’ kind of person.

But the fine folks at Amazon have people like me covered with their ‘try before you buy’ program. I have taken advantage of it in the past for casual trousers and golf shorts and it’s a much nicer experience than going to a store and monkeying around with that whole process

I ordered up 3 pair of casual shoes and 3 pair of sandals hoping to find a winner in each category.

KEEN Men’s Newport H2 Closed Toe Water Sandals

I ordered in a 11.5 since that’s the size shoe I would normally wear. Two strikes for them straight away – first, they are super heavy. Like, the Keens by themselves weigh more than the Tevas still in their box. Mostly, there was zero chance I was squeezing my fat foot into them. They have a fixed but flexible ankle cuff but it wasn’t THAT flexible. I could have reordered in a larger size but, well, they were very heavy.

Teva Men’s Forebay Sandals

I ordered a 12 because they don’t do half-sizes. Which turns out for the best because apparently I wear a 12 in sandals. I really liked these Teva’s. Wore them around for a couple hours a couple of times and was pretty certain they would be the final choice. However, there was another contender….

Skechers Men’s Selmo Fisherman Sandals

These I had also ordered in a 12 due to no half-sizes. Really liked them. Comfy and light with decent support. The only real difference in these and the Teva was in the adjustment. The Teva have a velcro strap across the top of the foot while these have a velcro strap at the back.

The Teva and Skechers were both nice. I wore each pair around the house a couple of times for a couple or few hours each time. I thought the Tevas were going to be the winner. On day 5 I wore them in the evening for about 3 hours and had pretty much decided. The next morning, though, I got up and put the Skechers on. My literal first thought was “Oh…. no… these are better” and after wearing them a couple hours I decided to keep them and send the others back.

So, sandals solved

At the same time I had also ordered three pair of walking shoes. I was hoping to get something casual that didn’t look like trainers but I didn’t want to limit myself too much by STYLE when COMFORT was actually the key criterion for the search. For the shoes I actually did a first impressions notepad entry so I’d be able to keep them straight in my mind. Ignore the typos, LOL, I was making notes on my phone.

Skechers Men’s Go Walk Evolution Ultra-Impeccable Sneaker

“Sketches gowalk 1sr impressions out of the box they look super casual. Like slippers. Very light. They feel skooshy and comfy here in the living room but very light. And they look like slippers. Then orange highlight is bold and garish. Not sure howninfeel about slippers that draw attention to themselves”

Rockport Men’s Metro Path Blucher Walking Shoe

“Grey. Pretty simple sole design, not much of a tread pattern. They look neutral but they look more like trainers than loafers. The ankle cuff collapses super easy which made them awkward to put on. Pretty solid but I feel like my feet are pronating slightly, rolling outwards as I walk mostly the left side. Super weird. Plus the ankle cuff is too low and rubs in an ugly spot. Pass.”

Rockport Men’s Eureka Walking Shoe

“look good, dark navy blue. Casual but not so obviously trainers at first glance. They’re pretty firm although I do feel like they may be leaning me forward a tiny bit. Somewhat tight across the top but I haven’t tied them or made any adjustments. They say they’re 11.5 wide but certainly not loose, kind of snug across the ball of my foot, particularly on the left. Not holding out much hope but I’ll try them for a couple hours later”

The final verdict on shoes ?

The Rockport Blucher is a great looking shoe. After 5 minutes of wear I eliminated them from contention. The Rockport Eureka had two issues that caused return – Mostly, I felt like I was walking down a very slight incline all the time. Also, the ‘nubuck’ pseudo-suede was showing wear marks across the top (where the laces ride) after a really short period and I never even tied them

<Sigh> The Skechers are SUUUUPER casual looking, like slippers, but they had good reviews. I soon figured out why. They are pretty comfy while also providing a decent level of arch support and a good fit. When the boy came over this weekend I noticed he was wearing a nearly identical pair. I mentioned that I had just bought a pair like that for walking and he said that he loved them but also he had inserts from an outfit called superfeet that make them even better. So I’ll be ordering those. I’m going to start wearing them after we move into town later this month so I should know by the end of June how well I did