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We’ve had light flurries and a hard frost - enough for the towpath to harden even if the puddles are now iced over. There’s no way anyone would risk their heels or their ankles trying to walk on that surface in stilettos, but it was nice to be able to go for a stroll in my blocky heeled knee boots! @higherheels I’m impressed that you’re making progress in those lofty new boots of yours. I can see how the progression in heights - normal heels, Hot Chicks and then the new boots would help. Because if my time practicing in my 12cm boots my 10cm feel wonderfully easy. I’m really pleased by that.

You have certainly acquired a lot of practical knowledge and skills in the course of your research!

What exactly did you do for a more gentle walk? I also run through a lot of heel tips on my stilettos, but never thought about "walking style"

Great video, I can absolutely agree to what she says about the Hot Chicks. I'm impressed that she says she walked like a mile in them, that's crazy! Seems she's very used to such heels, but even then it must hurt like hell in the end. @mlroseplant That's funny, I thought you're a warm person because you always wear sandals - I didn't know it's just your feet 😀 We've had our first snow now. This was probably it this year for the Hot Chicks. But I'm not ready yet to wear out my new boots. It's getting better, but mostly because they're already broken in a bit. The height is still a challenge. Only if I wear normal heels for the day, then wear the Hot Chicks for my evening walk, and then directly change into the boots they feel easier.

I’m hoping those temperatures you’re citing are in °C because if 6-8°F and windy is still fine for you in sandals you are truly heroic

At least you've got firewood now. Except for a few days when we had a bit of a cold snap, the weather has been on the warmer side for here. It is supposed to become more seasonal next week, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The temperature as I write this at 4 a.m. is 5º. In a week, it will be more like -5 at this time. My body has aged strangely. I am pretty much colder than all of my colleagues, who are 99% male. I wear long johns from October to April, albeit it capri length cotton leggings for most of that time. Though I love to wear shorts, the season where I can comfortably do so is pretty short. [rim shot]. This has its advantages come summer, when I handle the heat much more easily than almost everybody. Evidently, my feet did not get the memo that I'm a cold person. Today, much like yesterday, and the day before, my walking outfit will consist of jeans, t-shirt, long sleeved t-shirt, capri length leggings under the jeans, medium weight jacket, hat, lightweight gloves, and sandals. The dog walkers I usually encounter at that hour are dressed less warmly than me, but I'm the only one in sandals at that temperature, the range of which goes down to 0º, as long as it's not very windy. If it is windy, 6-8º is just fine. Below 0º, I will go to clogs if there's no snow on the ground. I would gladly trade some of my foot warmth for some extra body warmth, but I don't really have a choice in the matter.

This in no way relates to what many of you are seeing in scale, but I was talking with a doctor; a woman who told me she was 29 years old. When she found out where I lived, she mentioned she had been there to hike the many trails. Since I walk the 4.5 mile loop every day, we got talking about the difficulty of it, to which she said, "it's not a difficult hike. Not one I would do wearing my high heels though..." It just surprised me as she looked a bit more earth-based and yet used high heels to make a point on the trail's difficulty. In the office she was wearing high heeled knee-high boots so I guess it should not have been a surprise. I was glad to see and hear the younger generation at least has some in their closets!

I thought I must include my most durable stilettos in this thread, even though the total mileage is not all that impressive. My Shoedazzle rainbow mules are among the most comfortable truly high heels that I own. Even though they measure every bit of 4 5/8" without a platform, they feel very natural to walk in, and I have caught myself walking further than I intended more than once. As I have said on several occasions in the past, I don't normally wear stilettos for actual walking because I don't really find it all that fun, having to watch out exactly where I'm stepping every second. Nevertheless, I've managed 32 miles in these particular stilettos, and at some point I'll probably put a few more on. Part of the reason why I chose these for longer distance walking is because I wanted to do an experiment a couple of years ago to see if in fact I could make a pair of heel tips last a decent amount of time with a gentler style of walking. The answer to the question was yes. I was able to squeeze 16 miles out of a set of tips when my previous average was 8. For comparison, a thicker heel will last me four times that distance. While these shoes are easy to walk in, they do have their drawbacks. The nylon mesh fabric that the uppers are made of does tend to rub the feet raw if you're walking any real distance, so I need to make sure I use bandaids if I'm going for an actual walk. With a little bit of forethought and preparation, these are two mile shoes.

I had a similar experience with a pair of boots I’d not worn in ages. The fit felt awkward for no obvious reason.

Very impressive to walk in those! I think I’d be lucky to stand upright! im back to my block heeled OTK boots as the cold weather has settled in here. Down to -4°C at night. Getting up in the morning it’s very nice to be able to put on heavy suede OTK boots. My stilettos are thinner and not so warm!

I am familiar with that video, though I haven't followed her in years. She also did a review of the Louboutin Merci Allen 130, which is the model I would buy if I could. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they make any of that stuff anymore. There is another video where Ms. Winter walks for an extended distance in Hot Chicks as an experiment. I don't know if any of these videos are still up, but I distinctly remember those two for sure.

Interesting review. I’m even more impressed with @higherheels efforts to master these.

Getting back to the Hot Chicks discussion, this lady ('Engineering in Heels') has a number of videos showing her wearing, and analysing in detail, some very high stilettos - 13cm and above. Well worth a viewing. Link to one of the Hot Chick 130 appraisals:

Stilettos and rounded toes is indeed a rare combination. I think they were more popular in the past.

I much prefer almond toes, but they are so hard to find with stilettos. Italian Heels makes a very nice pump with rounded/almond toes and 12cm stiletto heels that I like the look of. I’ve never worn pumps, only boots. I’m curious and a bit tempted

Ah, yes I've also seen her on the Fuss-Schuhe Shop when I looked for the older videos I remembered. She's also very skilled! I agree with you that this isn't a typical "walk" anymore, but it's still impressive. Such extreme heels are probably made for photoshootings only and to show what's possible, I don't think anyone uses them for normal things like we use our heels. I'm a big fan of pointed toes, but I also don't like the super long ones. Despite the extreme height I actually like both heels from the videos, the peeptoes even a bit more.

Different lady. Here is some video of of the Dutch woman on Instagram. They are much shorter videos, and tend to be centered around artwork. I'm not sure what kind of a deal she's got going with Fuss shoes, but she does occasionally show up on their promotional material, and ver1astyle does seem to own a lot of Fuss shoes lately. I rather like the shoes in the video from your example. Almost round toed. It seems like a lot of extreme heeled shoes have a super long pointy toe, which I find objectionable. With both women, what they do is rather amazing, but certainly stretches the definition of the word "walk." I personally would like to be able to get across the street before several hours pass. And I would like to eventually be able to do it in 12 cm, maybe 13. I think 15 may be impossible. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DND-eA_IJzv/?igsh=cjhxZ2tpdGU5NmQ4

I’m a continuous cruiser, although the 14 day rule was suspended because of the long term closures this summer and into the autumn. I’m on a mooring now though. It just made sense. Winter is nearly upon us. There are more closures planned for winter repairs and the reservoirs are still low. Here I’ve ready access to coal, wood, diesel, gas etc - just no good place to practice in 12cm stiletto boots!

@Shyheels Do you have a fixed mooring or are you on a Continuous Cruising licence? If the latter I thought you were only allowed to stay 14 days in one place. Obviously subject to canal closures.

That’s my plan come spring. The nearest spot for that is a town about 15 locks east of here. At the moment that would be too chancy a journey. The canal I’m on has been closed to navigation for much of the year because of a water shortage and reopened only about a month ago - mainly to allow people who were stranded in awkward places for months to move somewhere better for the winter. Nobody expects the canal to remain open for long, despite our rainy weather lately. I’m in a really good spot at the moment. I’d be nuts to move

Take your boat on a trip to a location with better (concrete) towpath. Otherwise it's only when you do a tour for a group.

Yes you’re right. I definitely need real world walking experience and longer, more open walking areas. Putting my boots in a backpack and hiking off to a park in town - about a mile and a half away - is the best bet. The trouble then becomes time and commitment - finding the hour and a half minimum it will take to walk to the park and back and put in a bit of practice time. To say nothing of short days up here and foul weather. It becomes so easy to decide to practice in my boat

I agree, just walking around a bit inside your boat is probably not going to help much. You really need to get out where you can take a decent walk, develop a stride, and adapt to the heels. It seem like your only choice here is to place your boots in a back pack until you get somewhere that is suitable for a decent walk. The other issue is what to do with the back pack once you find a decent spot. I have wrestled with a similar dilemma with some of my more challenging boots/heel heights. Sure, I can walk around the carpeted hotel room fairly well, but hitting the open sidewalks was another story. I would quickly tire and get soar, and I'm sure all this was showing in my strides/steps, which ultimately attracted just the type of attention I did not want. One way I have realized when I am comfortable/confident with a particular pair is when I almost forget I'm wearing them while out and about. One of my biggest issues is self confidence, so once I am proficient enough to almost forget I'm wearing them, I stop "overthinking it".

Unfortunately I don't know anything about her. Always suspected she's from Germany, but just because Fuss-Schuhe is from Germany too. But I just had a look at the Fuss-Schuhe Shop and found the videos, one for example: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KrykbpYnDJ8&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD

I probably need to re-vet the clogs. I have discovered that I definitely don't like wearing any pair of shoes two days in a row, but the other extreme is probably worse--not wearing them at all for months and months. I got a chance to wear my Vince Camuto pumps last week, and it was like there was never any vacation there--they fit perfectly and were very comfortable from the outset. I also got them reheeled! They kind of needed it.