Hey,

I used to do a lot of hill walking, an hour a day, and probably 10 at the weekends. I do a lot less now, but starting to do more and I’m off to the Pyranees next year for a walking holiday.

Over the last few years I’ve developed issues with walking boots. Everything feels uncomfortable to me, I’ve tried a fair few brands and just can’t get it right.

The problem is the cuff of the boot digging into the bottom of my ankle bone, and the folded edges of the tongue digging into the front of my ankle bone.

I’ve tried normal, and mids. Approach shoes are a lot better, and I’ve found a few that work well for me, but there’s a fine line and a lot give me the same issues.

Has anyone experienced the same kind of thing? Did you find anything that worked?

Cheers!

Ricks

yeah i have had similar issues, an annoying pressure point or rub that seemed to defy logic and anything I did to stop it. I found in the end that changing the lacing pattern made it stop but for the life of me I couldnt understand why, it just did. Also a decent boot shop will make alterations to your boot if that is something to think about? Id recommend BackcountryUK in Otley, Phil and Tom are really great at this

Not me, but my Mom.
She just gave up and uses approach shoes or trail running shoes as the small benefit of boots was vastly outweighed by the comfort of the shoes.

Have you tried something like a good running shop gait and foot analysis? I guess a good sports physio or similar may also be able to help.

We have local independent running shop who has some suitably trained* member of staff for whom a few friends are very thankful to for solving all sorts of foot/ankle/knee issues.

*not sure to what standard.

the folded edges of the tongue digging into the front of my ankle bone.

I have the opposite problem – the tongue rotates to one side and I end up with the inside of the top hook pressing into my ankle. I sort this with some careful lacing. Try tying a knot lower down the boot to hold the foot in place, and then much less tight lacing above the knot to the top of the boot.

I don’t recognise the issue with the ankle but I guess that any crease or fold in the boot material could press here. The differential lacing I suggest might also help this. Otherwise I think it’s down to fit. Personally, I can’t wear Scarpa and most other common brands as the ankle is baggy and my foot slips in it unless the boot is done up very tightly, A boot with a narrower ankle (e.g. Salomon) fits better without having to be laced stupidly tight.

Sandals. Whenever the terrain allows I swap into sandals which means walking very little distance in boots. Boots wise I use the lighest Vibram Goretex that Tecnica make. They’re fine in the Pyrénées. That said I did all the major summits in trainers when I was in my 20s (and a couple of sharp stones in my hands for crossing névés), I’m less agile and bouncy now though.

The cuff problem sounds like you need a boot cut lower to give you more clearance or higher to go over the ankle bone instead of sitting underneath it. The Berghaus Hillwalker has a low cut and might be worth a look, they’re pretty light too. A higher cut usually means a much heavier 3 season boot which will probably be a lot more boot than you need or want.

Some boots are nicely shaped to fit over the ankle bone. I know this because I had ski boots that gave me a spike that grew on my ankle bone. Having been careful about choice of footware since it’s gone now. The Tecnicas I mentioned fit nicely over my ankle bones but that doesn’t mean they’d suit the OP. Somewhere out there there there may be a boot that fits, OP, good luck with finding a pair.