Shyheels

Exactly. I agree, I do think there is community out there who would happily join and contribute if they knew about us, and understood that we simply wear heels as a point of fashion.

It certainly is! I’m back on my boat, unpacked and practicing!

Yes, the challenge is very much about personal goals. Speaking for myself it has been quite helpful knowing both of you @mlroseplant and @higherheels are doing it too, in different styles and in different countries! What a pity we don't live closer - what fun it would be to meet up over coffee in our respective challenge heels!! I know I've definitely benefitted from all this - gaining skill in my 12cm boots and really moving fluidly in my 10cm ones!

I like those!

Absolutely! And given your mileage you’re way ahead of me in any case! Im en route back to my boat at last! Freedom!

I stand corrected - at least one of my group wears heels apparently. And when I think about it she was the one most likely, a southern lady. I didn’t see her heels but she referenced them in a conversation we had while attempting to do a walk around one of the lakes only to find it was flooded. She was not happy about getting her hiking boots wet as they are going back to America tomorrow and she’d planned to wear them in the plane, saying that she didn’t want to wear her heels in the airport and on the plane. From which I deduced she had brought heels and presumably wore them after hours. And now that I think of it she was also the only one in the group that was familiar with the story about men in heels back in the 17th century …

Yes, quality makes such a difference in terms of walkability. I have a pair of Jean Gaborit OTK boots with 9cm near-stiletto heel and they are a dream to walk in. They are fully custom so the fit is perfect, and the leather is extremely high quality - a very luxurious Nubuck suede - and they are beautifully designed not such in looks but in the fundamentals. I wish I was rich enough to afford to buy boots from them in 10 and 12 cm heights. I feel certain I would find both of thos heights much easier to wear.

I like purple and I know what you mean about four inch heels feeling all of a sudden so much easier! The challenge is certainly bringing benefits

Italian Heels are nice, well made and of real leather. They come in a huge range of sizes and colours and have charts to help you pick out the correct size. I have two pair of their Tina knee boots - in 10cm and 12cm. I like them. They fit well and are comfortable even if the 12cm ones are a bit challenging. My Jean Gaborit boots are much nicer - buttery soft leather and fully custom fit - but then they cost four or five times as much.

Yes I’m fortunate in that regard in having a nice pair of Italian Heels knee boots (their Tina model) in 12cm stiletto heels, scaled up to my size. They fit well and are well made. I think it would be quite difficult to try to master 12cm stilettos that were poorly made. It’s hard enough to master these! Let alone imagine mastering @higherheels 13cm Hot Chicks - which are obviously also well made

Funnily enough last night after one of my talks one of the group asked if I knew any interesting little known facts about British Royalty. I launched into the story of Charles II and his coronation portrait where he’s wearing four inch heels. And I told the broader story of men in heels in the 17th and early 18th century. A few were interested but two of the couples glared like I was telling some kind of dirty story. It was unsettling

I was thinking back over the tours I have led over the years - and there have been many, well over fifty - and of those I cannot recall a single one of the guests ever wearing heels. Once, years ago, on an Antarctic trip, one of the guests wore leather trousers to one of the dinners on board but that was as racy as anyone ever got.,

That’s an interesting idea. My own efforts have been pretty tame this past week but I hope to do better next week. I’ve been really pleased though by how working with my 12cm heels has really made me comfortable in my 10cm ones. They feel more like extensions of my feet now instead of something I’m wearing. The 12cm stilettos are still a challenge

Seems like a very nice encounter - the casualness of it is what is most pleasing.

Yes a good interview with someone from HHP would be very illuminating. As you say, there are some aspects to this feat which would be worth knowing.