On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 02:02:22 GMT, Ian <[email hidden]> wrote:
| I need to get myself a couple of walking poles and am trying to work out
| which ones to get and how much I need to pay. Funds are a bit short at
| the moment so I don't really want to waste money if I can avoid it. If
| I've understood things correctly the price seems to vary based on what
| the poles are made of, whether they have anti-shock, what the handle is
| made of and whether it's positive angle or not etc. Not having used one
| before I've really no idea whether any of this really matters or not.
| Everywhere I look there seems to be Leki poles which seem to be fine but
| are quite expensive. So .... would welcome any general advice or
| recommendations. I'm only going to be using them for pretty basic
| walking (i.e. walks such as you'd find in the Pathfinder guides).
I did my knees in years ago Morris Dancing, so my problem is that if I slip
and twist/overstress my knees, I am crippled for a few weeks. Normal
walking is OK. I found myself falling down to protect my knees.
What I need is something which will take my *full* wieght in an emergency.
I looked at commercial poles and they looked weak, and the adjustment
looked as if it would slide closed under my wieght.
I therefore use two oak/hard wood thumb sticks 20mm dia and length just
below the sternum, breast bone. I had a thinner one about 15mm dia and it
broke when I slipped on a greasy 3 ft high bank down the local woods.
Price zero I cut and and shaped then myself.
Value very high, in time and effort.
--
Dave F