Hi Pinky...

Yes fell-specific shoes are very low on cushioning, although it's a necessity, as in order to have confidence in your footing and grip, you need to be able to 'feel' the ground beneath your feet. Usually the terrain provides the cushioning for you, but as you found out, on rocky or bone-dry courses this doesn't apply.

You can certainly get used to the lack of cushioning... when i first started, i struggled with 10-12 miles in fell shoes, but a few years later and i'll happily knock out 30/40/+ mile races in fell shoes if the conditions dictate.

For your situation, it's just a lot of money (potentially up to or even above £100) for a pair of shoes you may not use again. Of course if you may well get out on the fells again in the future, particularly in races, it might be a worthwhile investment.

In terms of the cushioning of the fell shoes i mentioned, the La Sportiva Mutants have the most. The issue i had with them is the sides of the heels are cut quite high, and if you really get off-path onto contouring ground, it dug into the sides of my heels a bit, resulting in me 'operating' on the shoes with a knife. Otherwise, they are a superb shoe and very well made.

Mudclaws are next, very low on cushioning, grip is superb though. I've had a few pairs of these and never had an issue, although i did suffer a 'blowout' in a pair of these on a long race this summer, resulting in me trying ....

VJ Irocks... Next to no cushioning. Very similar i guess to Inov8 X-Talons. Grip is absolutely fantastic, in my opinion it is at least as good as the mudclaw, the comfiest fell shoes in terms of fit that I've ever worn, and the build quality is great.

Hope that helps, and you don't fall asleep halfway through reading that lot...!