Journalist Clive Tully's choice of footwear was a pair of Lithium GTX during his trip to Tenerife in January.

"I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Tenerife at the end of January, and whilst there, I got to do a walk in the Anaga rain forest, in the North East of the island. It promised to be quite rough and wet, not to mention the typically balmy Canaries climate with temperature up in the high teens. So a good opportunity to try out brasher's Lithium GTX boots. Light in weight, but waterproof and sturdy enough to take a rough trek - it seemed a good match for what was planned.

As it turned out, the vast majority of my route was downhill, a lot pretty steep. My knees weren't expecting that! And while on a footpath (actually it was a goat trail), it was stony and muddy - really slippery at times - in equal measure. I ended up doing my walking in bursts. I find plodding slowly downhill more taxing than taking it at the trot, although at times it was more like a gallop, with frequent stops to admire the Laurisilva forest, and to marvel at how tame the numerous robins were. And watching others on the walk having to take the trail a lot more tentatively made me realise just what a good job the Lithiums were doing.

Although lightweight (one of my size 10½'s tipped the scales at around 700 grams), they're not short on support, and that undoubtedly was what made the difference. Front to back, there's quite a spring in the midsole, and the torsional (twisting) resistance was excellent. You could safely traverse a hillside on the edges of the soles, and that, along with the relatively firm ankle cuff, means backpacking in these boots definitely wouldn't leave your feet screaming at the end of the day."

www.clivetully.com