Had a decent little weekend.
I was staying in Frome because I wanted to see if it could be a future place for me to live.
Ended up going on a couple of sweet hikes!
On Sunday, I went to Nunney Castle, and on Monday to the village of Mells. Both routes started with a cooked breakfast, followed by a 2 hour 30 minute hike there and back. I got a cappuccino halfway too!
Gear-wise, I just wore anything. Ordinary cotton t-shirt, cotton/polyester jumper, cotton/polyester tracksuit bottoms, and my nylon/polyester Next jacket. To be honest, I hadn’t even planned to go hiking.
The one risk was wearing my synthetic, non-waterproof Kalenji running shoes. Unfortunately they were the best hiking shoes I had!
The risk proved to be real. Look at the mud I encountered!
Over the past year I’ve tried to buy hiking shoes and failed many times. I’ve ordered online from Altberg and tried on pairs in-store at Millets and Cotswold Outdoors. They are just never comfortable! At this point I’m doubting if there will ever be a pair for me. Not giving up though, next I’ll be trying on the Bhutan MFS and the Altberg Tethera.
Back to the walk, I bet you are wondering how the shoes got on.
I could foresee the shoes struggling, so I didn’t wear my merino socks. I didn’t want to get them dirty really. Although you can usually wear them 4-6 times before they smell, mud obviously means you have to wash them earlier.
I’m really slow when it comes to buying new gear. I just don’t like to waste materials by throwing out old stuff.
When it comes to shoes that leak, it probably is time to invest in a replacement. But for everything else that works, maybe it’s worth keeping them. Look at my nylon/polyester Next coat, it’s over 10 years old now and still does the job! It’s a great example of quality and longevity. My mum even sewed one of the seams back together!
Amazingly, the UK sends approximately 350,000 tonnes of clothing waste to landfill each year. This translates to about 35 items of clothing by the average person¹.
Maybe, as a society, we should make better use of what we already own.
Do you agree?
References
1 – https://www.wastemanaged.co.uk/our-news/retail/fashion-waste-facts-and-statistics/
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