These Boots Were Made For Walking (Tours) #12

We’re out to upset the fashionistas at London Fashion Week again… by blogging about SENSIBLE SHOES!

Part 12 of our series on great shoes for walking tours sees Dr Fiona Haughey weigh in with tips for good and SAFE shoes for her Beachcombing Walks. She’s looking after your best interests here. And that’s just the way we roll, here at The D.C. Over to the good Doctor…

This isn't a plug for a particular make of footgear but rather a particular type!  On the LW programme it talks about sensible shoes for the beachcombing walks but people do seem to get confused. They either turn up in jelly shoes/flipflops/crocs (the thinking apparently is that when their feet get muddy, it is easier to clean then if they are in such footgear) or heavy wellies. 

Now I totally understand the wellies, but the Thames foreshore is filled with glass/metals and seriously uneven surfaces (cobbles/bricks/wooden structural remains) and so you do need to ideally wear something that covers and protects your foot.

The stretch of river we go down on rarely has any sort of mud.  There is periodically a thin layer of silt over a small part of that site and/or on a few of the steps we go down. This silt is literally paper-thin and presents no hassle or barrier to walking across it.  I wear either trainers or boots and these are both fine. The really heavy Thames mud can be very dangerous but I don't ever take people onto sites with that particular hazard! 

Slainte

Fiona

Dr Fiona Haughey

Archaeologist & Archaeological Illustrator

Director Archaeology on the Thames Project

Fiona H.

Fiona H. conducts our Thames beachcombing walks. An Inter-tidal Aracheologist (and Archaeological illustrator), she's a leading authority on the Thames foreshore. (She's also excavated in many near Eastern and central European countries. Given papers all over the world...well, you get the idea.) And she's a Super Mum - six children! In her "spare" time she spins.

POST UPDATED 17/3/16

A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.