After my shocking discovery about how poor my knees were I had gone out and bought myself some knee supports. I popped into a local sports shop in town and bought two at the silly price of £15.99 each! The type I got were the LP Knee Supports (except mine are blue, like the ones to the right), which after checking on the internet I was a bit frustrated to find that the LP Padded Knee Supports (i.e. better) were a mere £11.95. Grr.
It just emphasises my dilemma with shopping where I like to keep my money in the shops because the more shops you have the more the City is respected. However, when it comes to prices the internet wins hands down. But then I have the problem of my ludicrously small letter box, and therefore can only order wasp-in-a-box sized items. This somewhat limits my choice, as you can imagine. So then I'm back having the shop as my preferred retail option. Unfortunately you have to deal with several dissuaders: old people, thick assistants, queues and temperatures (i.e. freezing outside, so you stick on a big coat, but then it's roasting in the shops, so you sweat your back out and end up wanting to leave as soon as you get in). So then I'm swayed towards the online shop again. I can have stuff delivered to work, but I prefer not to as I don't want to take the mickey. So if I do order online I have the added risk of fraud. Shopping is a real problem for me, as you can tell.
Next step was to try them out. No point going for a run as I would have to run pretty far before I hit my threshold (Bupa Great Manchester Run). Frankly I couldn't be arsed with that. Instead I decided to ask my step dad whether he fancied going for a walk up a mild hill in the Peak District. It was a two-birds-with-one-stone thing for me as I could take my camera and take a few scenic photos.
Of course will all my activities I feel the need to spend money, rather than just do it with what I've got. Not sure why. Maybe it's because I don't want further injuries. Maybe it's because I just like to spend on new stuff. Maybe I'm just a snob. Who knows? Who actually cares? Anyway I fancied some new gear, so off I went to Blacks. I normally go to Millets, but after checking on the net the stuff I wanted was the same price. And yes, I do know they are one in the same (or have the same parent company, whatever), but Millets are considered the cheaper arm.
On the list this time was:
Walking Trousers
CamelBak, or similar drinking vessel to replace my water bladder
Walking Poles
I'd been asking a keen walking friend of mine what type he had and I decided to go with his recommendation which were: The North Face Paramount Convertible Trousers. I'm not sure whether the pair of trousers I have since found on the Blacks website is the same pair I bought from the shop. The name looks similar here, apart from the addition of 'Endless Wall Zip-Off', however the photo isn't the same. I'm hoping they are not the same pair as I have since discovered as they are now £29.99, as I paid £59.99! They are the zip-off ones, but I'm not sure what all this endless wall talk is. Anyway, they felt light, had deep pockets and an in-built belt plus belt loops. Oh, and they are quick drying for those excitable moments.
Next up a CamelBak. I chose the CamelBak HydroBak with a 1.5 litre capacity and from the diagram was able to withstand the pressure of a car rolling over it! That was £24.99. Bit expensive for a posh water bottle, but why ruin the habbit of a life time?
Finally I got some walking poles. These were Leki Ergometric Walking Poles which were priced at £29.99 each. Nothing special about these compared with others, apart from comfortable rubber grips and good size wrist straps.
So all in all it was another £144.96 tagged on to the walking expenditure. I've not counted the knee supports as they would be used for all activities.
Of course when I got home I did exactly what I've done with new clothes and gear ever since I was a wee nipper. I proceeded to try on my walking trousers, walking socks, Merrell shoes, wicking t-shirt, CamelBak and grabbed the two walking poles. I didn't look too much like a prat, honest guv.
Destination choices were either Kinder Scout or Mam Tor. My step dad, Jonathan, suggested that Kinder Scout was a little worse in that it was a bit steeper in parts, but certainly longer. I opted for the easier version as I didn't was a recurrence of the 3-Peaks (blog 6). Mam Tor is comes up over the valleys of Edale and Hope and apparently is known as the 'shivering mountain', however it's not tall enough to be a mountain. The East face is comprised of crumbling shale, which is challenging to walk on.
I'd been out the night before (same as the 3-Peaks walk) and was feeling slightly typsey. I made my way to the train station to meet up with Jonathan, stopping off at a shop en route to get myself some hang-over curing Coca-Cola. Managed to meet up in the train station with me feeling much better once my sugar-fest was over. Hopped on the train set for Edale. On the way I put on my new knee supports on, mainly to get used to them. Jesus, they were pretty tight. Obviously they are supposed to be, but I didn’t expect them to be that tight. Needless to say I just had to get used to it.
I
waited before getting out the poles until there wasn’t anyone in site. I still felt like a bit of a plonker with them. However, the knee supports and the poles made a tremendous difference going up hill. Downhill stuff was helped by the poles, but I had to put the palm of my hand right on the top of the poles to utilise maximum length. All in all it meant I was able to power up the hills without any issues, which was very good news for me.
Heading up Mam Tor I noticed that it seemed to contain the world supply of sheep shit. I mean there was a bloody load. Now, it’s the country and you expect a certain amount of shit, but this was ridiculous. Apart from that, there were a few exerting bits of the walk, but the majority was quite tame. Perfect for testing out my knees and specialist additions.
We walked across Mam Tor in a few hours, heading into Castleton. The plan was to round the trip off with a pie and chips from a local gaff. However, the first place we went to was shut, and the people who were getting the place ready were in-bred freaks and had little in the way of social skills. We shortly left that place, walking further in to Castleton. Of course, as the great British weather would have it, it started to lash it down. Big time. We ended up at a nice little pub and after an amazing 45 minutes wait I got the pie and chips I was after. All, of course washed down with a lovely cold pint of beer. Yum.
knee supports. I popped into a local sports shop in town and bought two at the silly price of £15.99 each! The type I got were the 
