I WENT BAREFOOT

Set your feet free and experience the sensory joy of a shoe-less summer stroll, says walking enthusiast Annabel Streets | ON MY WALK TODAY

- Annabel Streets

Hiking in the Czech Republic a few years ago, my children began nudging me, while whispering loudly, ‘Why doesn’t that lady have shoes on?’ For the last mile, we’d been following a barefooted woman as she clambered over rocks, as nimbly as a youthful goat.

‘Let’s ask her,’ I suggested.

The woman told us she spent every summer shoe-less, whether she was in the office where she worked, shopping in town, or walking in the country – and regardless of the weather.

‘I just love it,’ she said. ‘You should try it!’

So, last month, I set off on a day’s ramble that included heather-clad hills, woodland, and dunes. I’d walked barefoot before, but this was to be a full day of direct contact with the earth.