HOW TO GO SHOPPING

Shopping for footwear? Go in the afternoon, when your feet have swollen with the heat of activity. And wear your walking socks to give the closest possible sense of how the boots/shoes will feel in action.

Ask to get your feet measured, preferably with a Brannock device for superaccurate measurements that can then be matched to a particular range of options.

Wear what you’d wear on a walk. No point trying on a waterproof if you aren’t wearing your favourite fleece or jumper to see how it fits over the top, and a pair of walking trousers to see how they overlap (eg, if the back is short and you’re hunched over on a hard climb, could rain or cold air hit the skin of your lower back?)

Move like you would on a walk. Look for outdoor stores that have a terrain ramp with a knobbly surface so you get a quick idea of how your footwear would feel on a hill. If it’s trousers, lift your knees as if going uphill, and stretch your legs out to the side as if stepping round a boggy gateway in a field, or over uneven summit boulders.

Rucksack shopping? Load it up. It doesn’t greatly matter how it feels when it’s empty, or only filled with display padding. (If you don’t want to scrunch up the shop’s wares, bring your own kit – also useful for finding out if it can take all the stuff you normally pack.)