Quote Originally Posted by ianm View Post
Hi Travs,

Thanks for that. I must admit I thought trails shoes/fell shoes were the same thing! I guess they are best tried on before purchase. Any recommendations on retailers, brands, etc?
Arguably the best and most well known retailer would be Pete Bland Sports, they have a fantastic shop in Kendal if you are likely to be around that way. Otherwise their website has plenty of info and of course all of their product range. They are also very helpful if you message them directly on facebook, and I would suggest you do this and they will make some good recommendations.

There are several fell shoe makes and I wouldn't try to persuade you in any particular direction... but Inov8 are my choice, and they are generally the most often seen at races, there's probably a good reason for that. But there's also Salamon, La Sportiva, Walsh, and a few others. My personal view is that Salamon are a bit over-hyped and over-priced, but others swear by them. La Sportiva are fantastic quality but expensive, try them on first. Walsh have a big following and are the traditional fell shoe, but perhaps a little outdated (although I've never tried them).

My tip would be to go with an established make such as Inov8 or Salamon, but if you can try them on first then it would really help.