Improvised repair for a detached boot sole
Recently I had to make an improvised repair for a client with a detached boot sole. This sort of damage is something that is more common than you might expect.
It’s always worth carrying some basic repair kit with you on walking and climbing trips. One day, sooner or later, some item of your kit will break. Guaranteed, it will be at the most inconvenient time or place. There’s no point going overboard on this, but there are some particularly useful items to have. These are some stiff wire, some ‘Gaffa’ tape (or other equivalent), and perhaps most handy of all, a selection of different sized cable ties. Cable ties will come in handy for all sorts of basic emergency repairs so are well worth having, most often for repairing broken parts of rucksacks.
Recently a client’s boot fell apart during a Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, with the sole beginning to separate from the upper. A large cable tie wrapped under the ball of the foot, run between the cleats in the sole, then up and over the upper part of the foot above the toes was sufficiently tough and secure to keep the boot together for the remainder of the walk.
