A letter from a reader

At 62, I had started watching my feet instead of the view. It was my footing.

I almost did not write this down, because it is only a pair of sandals and I am not the sort of woman who gets excited about that sort of thing any more. But three different people stopped to ask me about them when we were out walking on Sunday, and when that happens at 62 you start to think there might be something in it.

The truth is, somewhere in the last few years I had started to feel unsure of my footing. My old sandals were flat and slippery and offered nothing underneath, so on a wet path or a smooth café floor I would slow right down and watch every step, and by the afternoon my feet ached so much I would be looking for somewhere to sit. Little by little I had started saying no to the longer walks and the days on my feet, without ever quite deciding to.

I had decided that steady and cushioned and nice to look at were three things that never came in one sandal.

So I slowed down, sat down more, and told myself that was simply my age.

Then I saw them on a friend

A friend of mine had a pair on and fairly marched round a whole afternoon while I picked my way along behind her, and I had to ask. They are from Nottingham Boutique, a little boutique that has been quietly looking after women our age for a few years, and they had their summer sale on. They are called the Vera, a black pair, and they come in three colours. I ordered mine that same evening before I could talk myself out of it.

What happened on the walk

I wore them out for a proper walk the next weekend, half expecting to be picking my way along as usual. Instead I hardly thought about my feet at all, and three separate women came over to ask me where they were from. Three. My friend Sue said I looked like I was enjoying myself, which I was, because for once I was looking at the view and not down at my own feet.

That was the moment it clicked for me. I had spent a couple of years quietly shrinking my walks to fit my feet, and here was a pair of sandals that gave them back to me.

Three things I have learned since

One. The grip is the thing. The chunky sole has a proper tread, so on a wet path or a smooth floor I feel steady and sure of myself, and I have stopped slowing right down and watching every step.

Two. The cushioning goes on all day. There is so much softness underneath that a long walk or a day on my feet no longer leaves them aching, and I am not hunting for the nearest bench by lunchtime.

Three. The straps make them fit. They undo and adjust, so they sit properly around my feet however they feel that day, snug and secure without pinching. And nobody would ever call them a comfort shoe to look at them.

About the price

I will be honest, when I saw them in the sale I was a bit suspicious. Sandals that actually hold your feet and last usually cost a good deal more, and it turns out they usually do.

The Vera is £25.95. It was £52.00.

There was no catch. They arrived quickly, they were comfortable from the very first day with no breaking in, and they looked exactly like the picture, which we all know is not always the way.

I did go and read the reviews before I ordered a second pair in the grey. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some sites, which if I am honest made me trust it more. One woman had written, "First summer in years I have felt sure of my footing and could walk all day without aching." That was the one that decided it for me.

What I would tell you if we were friends

If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.

If you have started slowing down on the wet paths and the smooth floors, and quietly saying no to the longer walks because your feet are not sure of themselves any more, then it is worth ten minutes of your evening to go and have a look.

Not because a pair of sandals will change your life. They will not. But there is something in walking along looking at the world instead of down at your own feet, that I had quietly given up on, and I would rather you did not give up on it too.

Two practical things. The sale is on at the moment, and the popular sizes go first, which I found out because the size I wanted had sold out by the time I went back for a second colour. And once the summer stock has sold through, that is it until next year.

I have stopped watching my feet, and started enjoying the walk.

Caroline