Fairbrook - test for the new boots

so this morning I drove up to the Peak District with some friends for a brief walk up Fairbrook and onto the northern edge of Kinder. There's something about Kinder that makes it feel very strange when you're on it. Its how I would imagine the moon to look, only with more peat and well water I suppose!

The weather forecast had been a little patchy and we were suspecting rain but i wanted to test out the new Raichle walking boots. I gave them a bit of a trail on a recent walk up Sugar loaf (Pen y Fal) in the Brecons last weekend but I found that on this walk they just woke old wounds from the Offa's Dyke Path wild camping trip a few weeks ago.

The result today was quite frankly a shock. I was expecting that my right ankle would be bathed in new walking boot agony, only to find that at the end of the wet 6 miler my feet felt really good! My right ankle seems to have picked up an injury (aside from the blisters) from the previous trip in the old boots and it now doesn't like to be pulled or stretched in forward and upward movement. This problem was almost completely eliminated today and I think over times as it heals I'll feel nothing. There was no rubbing due to heal slip and the boots were fully water proof. The grip on wet rocks and wood seemed assuring too. I think the wet weather may have helped loosen the new leather a bit as they were more comfy as we finished the walk than when we first started out!

The view from the top of Fairbrook was non-existent and so any attempt at finding Fairbrook Naze was pointless. Needless to say we made a brew on the Blackfly 3 and the Orikaso cup and returned the way we came.

The day was supposed to end with a beer and a snack at the Snake Pass Inn but we wouldn't make this destiny! Instead we followed our hearts and made an attempt to re-home an orphaned lamb which we found crying out by it's mothers dead body. The local farmer seemed not to be phased when we passed on the news and gave him the location but I at least left with my conscience intact.

All around a bit of a strange day. Boots work though so good times ahead.

It's Paul's turn to come up with a location for our next trip but I'm finding it difficult to get excited when the brief was: close to home, shorter distances and off the beaten track, which returned Paul's first idea of a Cornish coastal walk! I don't know, maybe there's mileage in it - but I doubt it!