However, in September in Snowdonia I took these boots as a bit of a baptism of fire to break them in properly. Come to find out, once I was in hiking country and ready to really put them to use, the soles were coming off. I agree with the review about the gortex tongue letting water in and this is one setback but not a major issue, although I do avoid long wet grass for this reason. I wore them on short hikes and a couple of overnighters, enough to make sure they were broken in and to test the GoreTex waterproofing, but otherwise kept them at home. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.

The boots look like they have been used on sharp rocks and have scuffs/cuts to the toe area and the soles are roughed up. So back in 2013 I decided that my faithful Karrimor boots were probably going to need replacing soon, as they had done some pretty long and grueling days in the hills both in the UK and abroad, and they were starting to show signs of wear – stitching etc coming undone on the outside. They have a grippy, cushioning and perfectly rolling Vibram MT Traction sole, a waterproof GORE-TEX Performance Comfort Footwear membrane, and cushioning memory foam around the tongue and ankle.I wore them constantly over a weekend of scrambling, walking steep ascents and descents and I found the boots comfortable throughout. Always apply waterproofing treatments to shoes outdoors and follow the instructions shown on the product. After eventually deciding on the Mammuts over the incredibly comfortable Scarpa Terras, I set about not even using them for a while and instead still took my old Karrimors on my Toubkal trip in 2013. Take your actual body measurements as they are more accurate than measuring over your clothes or shoes.

So to the boots themselves – the uppers are a sort of smooth suede leather, apparently full grain, kind of like a nubuck sort of fabric and are pretty hard-wearing and supple enough to flex naturally with movement. On the whole I really do like these, they’ve kept my feet dry and supported when it mattered, and I foresee using them as my main boots for a good few more years yet hopefully! Once done, retie laces, insert the insole and revel in your now thoroughly cleaned and adventure-ready outdoor boots.

I’ll admit they did take a little bit of breaking in, and on first outings they did feel a bit clunky and stiff, and I have encountered the odd blister in them, but that aside for the performance and feature set they are very good indeed.