merrell chameleon wrap slam 2 suisinish

Sat, Jul 17, 2010

It was a wild morning, lots of rain and low cloud scudding over the tops so I thought I’d see if the new Merrell shoes kindly supplied by Fitness Footwear needed breaking in, with a bimble along the landrover track to Suisinish. I was in the mood for a windy coastal walk and it’d be an ideal way to see how the shoes would fit. First off, walking along the rough road, they were very very comfy, straight out of the box. With a pair of smartwool socks they were warm too, despite a 30mph cold wind blowing in off the sea. Excellent underfoot cushioning from the supplied insoles and I fair skipped along as they’re really light on my feet.

The track is really rough in places but the shoes were really comfy no matter the ground and I detoured off into the hills for a bit to see what they were like on steep grass, heather and rock. Apparently 1Kg on your feet is worth 3Kg on your back, or something like that and these shoes are quite light and I felt free and easy climbing up the steep heather hillside and they didn’t let in any moisture in the long grass at the top.

As I sat at the top with feet toasty warm, an eagle quartered the rough ground towards the interior. A superb spot to sit out of the wind and contemplate the landscape. From there, it was down a very steep grass slope to the peat stacks. The grip on the steep wet grass was fine. Didn’t really have any problem with it but I did get a lot of toe bash. My feet slid right up against the front of the shoes and by the time I reached the track my right big toe was expressing its discomfort. The toe bash was quite bad and I wouldn’t have wanted to descend a steep mountain if that was going to happen all the way down. Back on the track though, back to normal comfy operation. My feet got quite wet exploring the peat stacks but never felt cold and soon dried out walking along the track again to Suisinish.

So a nice and refreshing day out and the shoes didn’t need any breaking in at all. They were comfy straight out of the box, dried well, were light on my feet enough that I didn’t really notice them but I did get a lot of toe bash coming down the steep hillside. I’ll take them into the mountains on the next trip to see what the story is but what is clear, these shoes are superb for track walking.