one of these days these New Balance Hierro hiking boots are gonna walk all over you ("you" is the West Highland Way)
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
No one wants to hear about a middle aged man's foot issues. Including me. So at the top let me just cut to the chase and say that after months of discussion with a podiatrist, with two different chatbots, and a lot of trial and error- i found the perfect hiking boots for me. The New Balance Hierro which aren't named after former Heat guard Tyler Herro (phew) but for one of the Canary Islands called El Hierro.
Sorry, just a little bit of background on my foot issue mostly so I can show you a funny picture. I went to a podiatrist earlier this year for some foot pain and he diagnosed me with functional hallux limitus, which I'm not totally convinced is my issue but it doesn't really matter. What matters is that each waiting room in his practice had a signed headshot from Martin Kove, the bad guy sensei in the Karate Kid.
I figured if my doctor was trusted to treat the feat of an original Karate Kid cast member, I was in very good hands. I ended up getting some orthotics that honestly haven't been that helpful for whatever my issue is. What has helped is having the right shoes, which for me requires a "rocker sole" and a bunch of plush cushioning in the midsole.
After trying out some hiking shoe options that were far too rigid, I ended up with a pair of New Balances that had a wide toe box, pillowy cushioning, and the rocker sole to ease my heel to toe transitioning. The only issue with them is they didn't have ankle support or waterproofing, two things I would need for my July hiking trip to Scotland to hike 50+ miles of the West Highland Way. So after trying out a pair of Hokas that didn't really work for me, Google Gemini led me to the aforementioned New Balance Hierro hikers and- spoiler alert: they were everything I wanted and more. It delivered on the product description: super cushioning from the "Fresh Foam X" midsole, the vibram outsole had "superior grip", and the "toe protect" technology helped protect against rocks and roots. I should mention here that I am not sponsored or compensated by New Balance in any way. Although if they're looking for old man shoe influencers, I'm happy to throw my hat (and shoe) in the ring.
All in all, I probably ended up walking about 90 miles total during my 8 days in Scotland. Certainly the most I've ever walked in a week. It wasn't all in the NB Hierros, I also packed these Hoka Ora Primo recovery slippers which this reviewer calls "Weird, Ugly, Yet Deeply Loveable" and I agree. I had a bit of a problem during the pandemic where I started buying too many sneakers...
many of which now aggrivate whatever my old man foot issue may be, but I did wind up with some shoes with a super cushioned midsole and enough of a "rocker" sole to keep my big toe stable. The all star keepers in my collection, if you're interested, hate the look of most bouncy running shoes, and share any of my foot problems are:
New Balance 9060 (not as cushioned, but still comfy)
And now, finally, I can show you some of the incredible places I walked during my trip to Scotland. My trip began with a two day solo visit to Edinburgh, which I found to be as magical as everyone says. The first day was a proper Scottish day, cooler temperatures with fog (or as I learned on BBC Scotland is a specific type that they call Haar)
Then walked around and explored the city for the rest of the day.
And I ended my first day in Scotland with the most Scottish evening imaginable, my colleague got me tickets to see Garbage at the Edinburgh Castle (her dad is in the band!).
The show began with a bagpipe and drum ensemble processional through the crowd...
...and ended with frontwoman Shirley Manson summoning a light rain with the encore "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" as the torches flickered in the castle just behind the stage.
And after my first day, no more Haar, no more fog, no precipitation of any kind. The rest of my trip was sunny and warm. Strange for Scotland, but good conditions for a long hike. Or for this day, an organized Edinburgh bike tour led by an Italian man named Ricardo and his dog Lucia.
And not to worry, there are some parts of the city that still look like they're straight of Trainspotting:
But yeah, most of Edinburgh is adorable. And I found the Scottish custom of putting traffic cones on statues to be very charming, and good for photos.
After a quick train ride, and a stop at the outdoors store for a Nalgene and some other items I needed for the hike, it was time for more walking.
Then it was time to meet up with my friends before heading off to our busride from Glasgow to Inverarnan to start the hike. I haven't asked my fellow group of hikers if they want to be on the blog, so maybe I'll save the group photos for another post. The bus ride ended up getting re-routed to an adorable seaside town called Oban when one of the roads was closed, so we got a bonus destination before our hike.
And the next day we set off on five days of Inn-To-Inn hiking on the West Highland Way, with our hiking boots and our day packs. There's a luggage transfer service that people use to make it easy to just have your essentials on you during the day rather than a massive backpack. My friend Abby did an amazing job organizing the entire trip and itinerary, making it super easy for me to just book our lodging and join the group.
Some cool stone assemblages along the way. Each one felt like a large scale art piece to me.
And some were more deliberately built cairns, like this one on Rannoch Moor. It's a memorial to Peter Fleming, brother of Ian Fleming.
Not to be morbid, but if someone wants to build a memorial Cairn for me in Carversville after I'm gone, I wouldn't be opposed. A lot of the stone structures in Scotland actually reminded me of the stone walls in Carversville. And this may just be an AI chatbot telling me what I want to hear, but I just looked it up and found this connection:
Anyway, back to the hike. I got up early one morning in Kings House and took this photo as the sun was slowly rising (we had many hours of daylight since it didn't get dark until about 11pm)
I loved the rhythm and cadence of the long walks each day. I try to start my days at home with a hike in Griffith Park with Miles because there's something that feels so elemental and calming about just walking. This was my first experience doing it from Inn-to-Inn, and with long distances each day. And I'm hooked. I'm already on the lookout for future hiking trips, even though nothing can match this one, it was perfect.
And finally, after 50 miles of hiking along the West Highland Way...here's me in my New Balance Hierro Hikers admiring the grandeur of the Highlands. (photo by Abby!)
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