The Christmas Gift That Wins On A Scottish Croft!

The Hubs gives me good gifts.  He thinks for a while and he tries to put himself in my shoes.  But he does it all from his perspective – if you get my drift.  

This lovely, outdoorsy man, who has never stayed more than a few days in a city (and who has never left the country) tries to get in the head of this transplant, who has lived in a few countries and usually lived in an urban or suburban environment!  I mean how can this go wrong?

It has gone wrong in the past, but today I’m talking about my Christmas gift!  That most certainly did NOT go wrong and I’m so astonishingly happy with my present every day! 

He got me wellies.

I’ve got to chuckle here.  I did not know there was so much that went on in the world of wellies, but let me tell you it’s not straight forward!  There are different soles and elevations to wellies, did you know that? Flat, with a slight heel, with a slight heel and a slight raise…. Also, there are different kinds of grips on the soles. 

Makes sense right? But it’s not something people like me ever thinking about.  For us, wellies are those gumboots that keep the wet outdoors off your feet and allow you to smash into puddles like there’s no tomorrow.  But there’s so much technology behind these things, and I’m grateful for that technology every day!

He got me Aigle wellies.  Not for the brand, we tend to make decisions on practicality here, not brand bling.  And well I didn’t even know about Aigle’s until a few years ago.  But if you have heard of them you’ll know that they’re good, long wearing, practical wellies that really function well.

I was skeptical at first.  Surely one can’t ever expect to walk up a hill in the wet moor without slipping and sliding a bit.  I had been doing so in the flat soled wellies that I love for my gardening tasks and I would get some little panic attacks every time I shifted my body weight to take a step on the hill.  (Why is there always a hill or some obstacle before the beautiful walk or view? ) Well! The first few steps with these babies were pure joy!

These wellies have a thick angled grip on the soles.  This is what makes it so fabulous for walking on boggy moorland.  I can walk uphill on ground very slick with recent rain and very spongy with the water content without worrying now!  It’s just amazing.  Going downhill, I can jab my heels in to get a grip quite quickly as I take my steps and taa-dahh we’ve got magic!  There’s no loss of balance or shrieking as I think I’m going to fall. There is no falling.

These unassuming, green rubber boots save me on a daily basis and allow me to get past those obstacles and get to my lovely walking area and my lovely views.  Let me tell ya, I take care of these babies better than I do for any other shoes that I own!  Sure I have my heels stored in a dry place and I have waterproofed and applied leather protection to my 6-inch knee high boots.  But my wellies get daily upkeep and cleaning, they get stored in a special place by the back door and they get rubbed down with protection gunk periodically!

This was the Most Excellent of Christmas presents! 

All hail the power of the wellie!