Going without shoes

[Thenihilist]

I've read a few posts about folks thinking of going without shoes and i myself have decided to go without for a time to see if it's for me.

I thought it might be helpful to those folks if i posted in this thread occasionally about my experiences with it to help them make a better decision.

I don't want this to get into a debate about the negatives and positives of it, suffice to say the perceived benifits outweigh the negatives for me.

Apologies if this is the wrong place just thought it'd be helpful to some folks.

 

[jojo]

That should prove interesting. I have done it on occasions, not recently though, and it is a very pleasant feeling. You have to watch so much more carefully. Not just for glass and such, but the decorations our doggy frriends are prone to dot the landscape with...And you got to experience walking in a cowpat too...dont's ask how I know... I'll take the cow pat anyday!

 

[rik_uk3]

I've read a few posts about folks thinking of going without shoes and i myself have decided to go without for a time to see if it's for me.

I thought it might be helpful to those folks if i posted in this thread occasionally about my experiences with it to help them make a better decision.

I don't want this to get into a debate about the negatives and positives of it, suffice to say the perceived benifits outweigh the negatives for me.

Apologies if this is the wrong place just thought it'd be helpful to some folks.

If you don't want a debate about the pros and cons it looks like your mind is made up already so why post the question?

 

[stevied]

Hi, I fancied having a try but where I live its not the best of ideas so I got some five finger shoes. You still have a sole but its quite soft and you get to feel a lot more under foot.

 

[rik_uk3]

"I don't want this to get into a debate about the negatives and positives of it, suffice to say the perceived benifits outweigh the negatives for me"

So your writing a blog about it then? Looking forward to reading it.

 

[pango]

Are you aware that there are people alive today in Britain who spent their childhood without shoes?

Auld Colin, a semi-retired farmer of 83 who lives just a few miles from me in Fife, says he only wore shoes to go to church on Sunday. His eyes burned when he told me of wrapping potato sacks round his feet in winter to "ca' the neep-hash" for an hour before and after school... if he was allowed to go to school at all! That same hated neep-hash (turnip shredder) stands outside his front door as a reminder, and he states proudly that he found the time so that none of his children would ever have to do it.
He's at his most passionate when talking of education... and sheepdogs!

But you don't have to go that far back in time. I worked with an engineer who went to school barefoot in 1960's Glasgow, and am fairly certain there were similar cases in every city in Britain, and a German friend told me that the first pair of shoes he ever owned arrived, along with a suit of clothes, from the National Socialist Party.
That's how easy it is to corrupt a young mind!

I'm sure all of them would see your proposal as one of the whims of a generation which has wanted for nothing!

 

[Toddy]

Boots were for school and Sunday's in my father's childhood. The older houses round here have very few cupboards; folks didn't have much to store you see. These weren't poor folk either, they were tradesmen and the like.
My mother's family were better off and their children wore shoes all the time out of the gardens, and good ones for Sunday. Their houses had loads of cupboards.
It's the domestic equivalent of wealth in the past.

Different world, and the unpaved roads that needed wetted down with the leaky watercart (barrel with loads of fine holes) to stop the dust in Summer, are all tarmaced and full of cars and lorries.

I walk barefooted at home all the time, and in my own gardens; but outside my gates, those modern pavements and roads aren't good even horses need iron shoes for the roads.

Best of luck with it, be interesting to hear how you find it over time. Especially how you're feet feel being unsupported all the time if you've always worn shoes/boots.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Retired Member southey]

Nice idea, Just a word of advice, if you go for a camping trip, dont be tempted to carry ANY extra weight like a pack or lots of water, else you WILL magnify any injuries either internal(sprains, strains and breaks) but more so external, that bit of granite you skipped over unladen will become a foot slicer with weight on, it takes a fair while to toughen your feet up to even walking on unpaved trails, let alone pavements with any ease, just be patient and take it a little each day, if you go straight into it you will open your self upto big pain as your feet spread out and return to there unshod state, if you run you will need to go very easy indeed to allow your legs to get used to not using your heel as hard or at all compared to how you run now, I find it easier to walk on the front pads\toes(as if your wearing high heels) it comfy and balance is good, it also means that when you cut\split your pads you can use your heel to get about on(though it pays to carry some flip flops with you for a rest or if your not up to a flinty\spiky\scrubby bit of ground.

Have fun matey, I always feel more energetic when not having to wear shoes.

 

[21st century pict]

There’s an old quarry near where I live and normally in the summer when I go tracking I get the boot off most of the time, I mostly use my tracking stick to parry nettles out of the way and flick the gorse out of my feet, the furthest I have walked in one day bear feet is around 12 mile, along the coast so easy going. Your feet toughen up quite quickly all the same. Once walking through the quarry on a hot sunny day I suddenly found the sand under my feet was quite cold so I dug down around a foot and a half to fresh water which the dog got. Some of the thorns can stay imbedded for quite some time and I’ve stepped on the occasional wasp but no long term damage. Strangely enough I fancied a pair of five fingers for looking for Razor clams, always paranoid about stepping on a Garfish after seeing my pal get stung but Ive had no real problems in the woods. Ever tried fire walking.EASY.
I remember my mum telling me that when she was a wee lassie they only wore shoes to school in winter.
.

..

 

[mrcharly]

Toughen them up gradually - you can then do almost anything! I've run the Great North Run half marathon twice barefoot; the worst thing was all the discarded plastic bottletops. They are really painful when you step on them.

 

[mrcairney]

When I lived in WA, most folk didn't bother with shoes. I personally think it's a cultural thing.

 

[ged]

I'm barefoot now. When at home I usually am, I much prefer it. Cold doesn't bother my feet much and the wife will be wearing moon boots while I'm still barefoot. But outdoors there are just too many things to injure bare feet so I wear boots.

Although I grew up in a poor mining community in the fifties and sixties, I don't remember anyone in bare feet. Even then most of the roads and pavements were covered with tarmac. But there were at least three cobbler's shops in business in the village that I can remember (they've all been gone a long time) and there would have been plenty more amateur cobblers with shoe repair gear in their homes. My family must have taken a pair of shoes to the cobblers at least every couple of months, leather soles didn't, er, last very long. Strange coincidence, only last weekend I moved my grandfather's set of lasts to make a bit of room for the wife to work in the shed.

 

[pango]

Interesting points, Southey, especially when considering that the vast majority of Europeans have only worn shoes/boots as we know them for a few of generations and even so, the sophisticated designs we take for granted are relatively new. My father, and I'm sure those of many other middle aged folk, had a cobbler's last which was kept in the garage, although rarely used. I wonder how old it was?

It would be worthwhile knowing what a Podiatrist would have to say about common complaints in the modern world directly associated with the wearing of shoes, and to consider what evolutionary changes might occur as a result.

It can be said that it was our feet that made us Human... just think of the spectacular knock-on effect of freeing up our hands.

Pango.

 

[shaggystu]

i spend a lot more time barefoot than i do wearing shoes, whether that be at home or out and about. camping at my local spots (gorse and heather over gritstone) i'll be barefoot, when i get along to bushcraft meets there's always a few people there who'll tell me about any broken glass/rusty nails that they've spotted because they're so used to me being barefoot now, on the rare occasions that i go into town i've learned that flip flops save a lot of hassle (tesco for example won't let you in unless you've got something on your feet, no idea why). toughening your feet up is best done slowly IMHO, once you've got a good hard sole to your feet you can pretty much ignore things like thorns and nettles but if your feet are used to being wrapped up in shoes/boots then the sole will be really quite delicate at first, therefore really quite easily damaged. cuts on the soles of your feet take a long time to heal, and they pretty much put you out of action whilst they're healing.

are there any sandy beaches near where you live? if so, take your shoes off and go and run about on the sand for a few months, i think that's the best possible way to toughen your feet up. the abrasive sand encourages your feet to grow a good thick layer of skin and the sand itself protects your feet from impact damage whilst you're learning to walk again.

walking barefoot really helps me to get closer to nature, when i take my shoes off i notice things around me a lot more, tracking is ten times easier barefoot than it is with boots on, and the reason for all those things is really simple, walking barefoot forces me to move more slowly than i do when i'm wearing boots.

going from painfully hot and sharp tarmac to cool wet grass is the most wonderfully sensual experiance you're allowed to have in public

stuart

stuart

 

[Bushwhacker]

I know a funny story from one bushcraft school whereby a client, even though strongly advised to do so, wouldn't wear boots. They then went foraging for chestnuts.

 

[treadlightly]

I am barefoot at home all year apart from the deep winter. Outside i am as minimalist as possible. Over the last two years my feet and ankles have strenghthened and the soles of my feet are much tougher. I would not go back to conventional footwear.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Didn't realise Cody Lundin had so many followers

 

[Thenihilist]

Only walked a few hundred metres today and there is some discomfort walking on small stones and tarmac. Hopefully it won't take a long time for feet to toughen up enough that it's unnoticeable.

Get a lot of funny looks from folk but i'm enjoying it so far.

 

[Thenihilist]

Didn't realise Cody Lundin had so many followers

Just googled him and now have a new show to watch

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Just googled him and now have a new show to watch

This might interest you, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcrEEn3km5s&feature=related