Review of Trespass Walker Boots

Trespass - the UK outdoor/clothing company, do a range of walking boots and have bravely offered me a pair of their Walker boots to test to destruction. On over 3,000 miles of walking on sharp slate, abrasive granite and through saltwater, previous incarnations of my walking boots have had their soles worn all the way through, pieces of metal sheared off and had their waterproofing reduced to that of a teabag, so these are in for some punishment. When I say I get through boots, I don't mean that entirely figuratively!

Initial impressions

The RRP of around £140 is more than I'd normally pay for my "consumables" but at the time of writing they were on offer at 50% off which brings them into fairly close price competition with some of the half-decent boots of even the budget outdoor shops. A quick look on the Trespass website at the reviews left by "hardcore" hikers looks promising - people who use them day in, day out have good things to say. I don't really want to hop back across Penwith one day in half a boot so that is reassuring.

Amazon?

If you prefer to do your online shopping on Amazon (e.g. to combine with smaller items to qualify those for free postage), the men's Walker boots are also available from Amazon and so are the equivalent women's Serana boots.

First field tests

The boots are real leather which usually needs a little bit of breaking-in. Having said that the first time I wore these was for 3 hours and they were fine. On the second outing I walked for about 7 miles in them and they were comfortable enough to not think about apart from a slight rub on one ankle after about 5 miles but no blisters or anything like that. I’d recommend doing a couple of shorter walks or a bit of pottering around before setting out on a long walk with a new pair.

The boots offer plenty of protection against knocks from rocks which is ideal for moorland or coastal walking. However, the lack of external sensitivity means that I wouldn’t want to drive in them. If you're after boots for nipping in and out of the car then a more lightweight model would be more appropriate. If you're going to do fairly long walks then the extra protection is worth the inconvenience of changing footwear.
Previous boots I’ve had with Vibram soles have sacrificed grip for hard-wearing which has resulted in a few slips, slides and colourful language. In dry weather, these seem to have the balance about right - in dry conditions they seem as grippy as the boots I've had with the softer soles that wore through quite quickly. These feel a bit firmer so I'm assuming they will last longer but time will tell.

The long haul

After using them regularly for a few months:

• They are still waterproof.
• The soles show very little signs of wear.
• The laces are not frayed. Some boots have quite sharp metal catches which can disintegrate laces. These seem OK.

My main criticism is that the Vibram sole doesn't grip as well in the wet as some other (non-Vibram) boots I've previously used. There's obviously a trade-off between making the soles hard-wearing for longevity and soft for grippyness. If you're going to use your boots mostly in dry weather then this is unlikely to be a problem. It's only really noticeable on wet, slippery rocks.

Care tips

I recommend applying dubbin wax to the leather as soon as the boots are worn in and then regularly to stop it drying out and cracking. This applies to all leather boots. If you leave it too long before applying it the first time, the outer layer of leather can crack which can reduce the waterproof quality of the boots.