Poking about on Google recently, we found another great vote of confidence in brasher footwear when we came across Alex Roddie's excellent web site:

A FellWalker in East Anglia.

Alex wrote a post entitled: '10 items of gear I rely on.'

And we were delighted to see that first in Alex's list of 10 outdoor essentials was a pair of brasher Hillmaster boots.

Alex comments in his introduction:

"This article describes ten of my favourite items of gear, in no particular order. I trust these items implicitly and would recommend them to anyone without hesitation."

Here's what he had to say about the brasher hillmasters:

THE BRASHER BOOT COMPANY
Hillmaster Classic GTX
3-season hiking boots

"As boots go, the Brasher Hillmaster Classic is, well, a classic.

Still among the most (if not the most) popular boots in Britain, the Hillmasters have been made for many years, and the subsequent alterations to the basic design have only made them better.

I bought a pair in February 2005 in preparation for the May trek. Comfortable right out of the box, waterproof, and with a low-cut ankle that makes walking in them a delight, I was impressed with the Hillmasters from day one.

They don't feel quite like any other kind of boot.

Apparently Brasher modelled their original hiking boots on running shoes, aiming for the same level of comfort while still retaining a stiff and supportive upper necessary for hillwalking.

The Hillmasters have it spot-on. I've walked many hundreds of miles in these boots, and they've taken quite a beating, but they're the most comfortable footwear I've ever owned.

If you've been having problems with blisters due to ill-fitting boots, or maybe if your feet just aren't Scarpa (or whatever)-shaped, Brasher boots might be well worth a look."

Footnote. since writing the review Alex has moved to a new site: Freeman of the Hill.

Walking World, the popular online walking guide, has now notched up a massive 4000 walks on their database.

What a fantastic achievement.

What's more, every one of those walks has been submitted and verified by a Walking World member, and so is a fantastic testament to the power of user-generated content.

We take our our hats, (and brasher boots) off to all concerned.

Why not find your next walk over on the Walking World searchable database?

In London last Thursday, April 24th, it was 'Walk to Walk Day.'

See here, and here.

And to be honest, we're surprised it wasn't a nationwide event.

Although other than those at brasher Towers who walk to walk anyway, only a few people here joined in.

Because many of us walk regularly, and for miles every weekend anyway, so walking to work would be something of a bus-man's holiday.

Although we do think it's a great idea to encourage more people to take up walking. And who knows some people might get the bug and have a 'Walk to Work' Summer.

If they do, (unsubtle product plug alert!), we can think of no better choice for walking to, and wearing at work, than our recently introduced 'Everyday' range of footwear.

All day long comfort, straight out the box, they bear all the hallmarks of brasher outdoor performance, but styled with the urban wearer/worker in mind.

So well done everyone in London, (and elsewhere), who walked to work on Thursday, and if you need some appropriate footwear to keep going throughout the Summer, we can put you in touch with some great brasher stockists.

Featured shoe style: Borilo.

Featured shoe style: Mateka.

Did you watch 'Wainwright Walks' on BBC recently?

I missed the first programme but thanks to the good offices of the web and the BBC iPlayer, managed to catch it online.

Truly a case of the unmissable becoming unmissable.

It was a really nice way to spend half an hour of an evening, and coming hot on the heels of our recent post about Wainwright's Window being in peril, hope it generates even more interest in the great man.

If you did miss the er, unmissable, (the iPlayer only let's you access programmes up to 7 days after the event) series 1 & 2 are available now as a boxed set from the BBC shop.

Whoops, we’ve been so busy getting the blog up and running recently, we almost forgot to give a plug for the launch of our terrific new web site.

We’re really pleased with it, and hope you like it too.

It debuted a couple of weeks ago, and hopefully complements this blog with it’s mix of product information on both our outdoor performance and lifestyle ranges, retailer support, reviews, new product introductions, brasher background and a whole lot more.

As Zoe Brookes, our Marketing Manager here commented on launch day:

“We wanted to communicate our passion for the outdoors and educate visitors to the site on the breadth of outdoor experiences that can be enjoyed out there. The new site treats each visitor as an individual, recommending the right footwear for their preferred activity and encouraging them to share their experiences in the great outdoors.”

The site’s getting plenty of traffic from brasher fans new and old, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, why not click here and go and see what’s new for yourself?

This is a great find from Telegraph TV's travel section.

A short, useful film about being out and about in winter.

(We particularly liked the orange bin-liner demo.)

We came across a great blog the other day from a chap called Mark Reid.

Mark, (described by The Sunday Times as 'Wainwright with Booze'), is the author of "The Inn Way" series of guidebooks based on long distance circular walks via traditional pubs in the Yorkshire Dales, Lake District, North York Moors, Northumberland and Peak District.

We think it's a terrific idea; walking and pubs, a marriage made in heaven.

What's more, for every book sold Mark donates a percentage of the profits to conservation projects with the relevant National Park. Money raised helps fund activities such as habitat creation, tree planting, walls and barns restoration.

So Mark, cheers for the Inn Way series and please keep us posted as new editions come out.

Footnote: When we asked Mark his permission to write about him on our blog, he actually wears brasher Trailmasters. And has done for the last 8 years, getting through a pair every 18 months or so. A reflection we hope, on the number of miles/pubs Mark covers, rather than the typical life-span of our boots!

This is a good find; The University of Liverpool mountain database.

Storing information about more than 2600 hills and mountains in Great Britain and Ireland.

The mountains have been classified according to height and minimum reascent from all other mountains. The classes currently available are Munros and Munro Tops, Corbetts, Donalds, Grahams, Marilyns, Murdos., Nuttalls, Welsh Hills and English Hills.

The mountains can be searched by country and by region or by class of mountain.

At brasher, we think walking often goes hand-in-hand with photography.

('Walking'/'Hand-in-hand'? oh dear.)

Anyhow, it's one of the reason we big fans of the online photo-sharing site flickr.

You can see our growing collection of shots on this fantastic web resource here:

However, for those readers new to flickr, we thought we might bring to your attention this lovely short film, from Seattle-based commoncraft, explaining just how flickr works and why it's such a great idea.

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, we're big fans of lots of the UK's walking and climbing festivals. (Here's just a selection courtesy of Google.)

And over the next few months we'll be posting about some crackers.

If have any favourites, please drop us a line and we'll try to include it here on our blog.

The Keswick Mountain Festival in May looks a cracker. As does the walking on offer at the North Devon Festival, also in May.

While next month; February 15-23 sees the Fort William Mountain and Film Festival.

Consisting of workshops, exhibitions, the history of mountain rescue, photography, film, lectures and biking events, it looks like Fort Bill really is the place to be that week.

So don't forget we'll keep you posted about some great walking festivals, and please let us know about any you'd like us to mention.

outdoorsmagic have a seasonally appropriate and informed article about the contents of your winter backpack.

Good advice, as always, not forgetting the further observations in the accompanying, 89, (at time of posting) comments.

(Most of which seem to concentrate on the topic of nutrition in the hills. And including to this reviewers eyes, and palate,some fairly unkind words about that confection of confections; Kendal Mint Cake!.

A lot of our retailers are telling us there's been quite a surge in sales of walking poles coming up to Christmas.

(Who knows, you might find a pair in your stocking.)

Earlier this month, in a feature about Christmas present ideas, the Times Online suggested a pair of our carbon Provolution poles might make a brilliant gift.

Praised for the unique PowerLock system, which allow you to collapse the poles without removing your gloves, these carbon poles also got the thumbs up for their extreme lightness. (Little wonder then that the pole also got an amazing 18/20 from Country Walking Magazine too earlier this year.)

Designed with mountaineering, trekking and backpacking in mind, it's probably the perfect bit of kit for Santa himself as he does his rounds this year.

If you're an old hand in the hills, you'll be aware about the importance of checking the weather before venturing out.

But with new walkers discovering the joys of jaunting all the time, we thought it might be a good idea to share a couple of our favourite online weather resources. (Not least because we all do like a natter about the weather don't we? And checking it out throughly is a good habit for every walker to get into.)

So if you're a first-timer, one link we'd like to point you to is the good old Met Office.

Forecasts cover daylight hours and contain the following information.

• Hazards list.
• A brief summary of the weather on the hills.
• An indication of height and extent of the lower cloud.
• Visibility.
• Wind and temperatures on the hills.
• Freezing level at or below summit level.
• A general outlook for the next few days.

The forecasts are issued daily.

The Mountain Weather Information Service is also worth a look, as are your local BBC weather forecasts.