I bought a pair of walking shoes that fit, a bit pricy for me, £60.
After 3 days of walking, I now cannot take a step without pain. The walking shoes hurt to wear. But I cannot return them because I walked outside.
I went to a more high end outdoor shoes shop, they could not provide a single pair of shoes that both fit comfortably or heel slip on my left foot. Including trying heel risers and insoles.
I want to go walking and at this point, I don’t care where I have to go or what they and I have £250 to drop on them. Which is about as much as I can afford.
It is immensely frustrating.
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There are specialist shops for running. A family member visited one, and spent money doing it, and they assessed how she walked, gait etc. I assume a similar service is available for walkers.
Can’t remember where it was though. Is there a UK walking sub? I guarantee they’d know.
It depends whereabouts in the UK you are but most major cities have specialist sport shops that provide a foot measurement service. The below is an example:
https://profeet.co.uk/sports/sports-lab/running/
Maybe worth asking r/hiking
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It is possible it’s not the shoes.
I was like this for many years. It turned out I have unusually flat feet and posterior tibial tendon dysfunction, and I actually needed orthoses and physiotherapy.
I don’t have major issues with shoes any more.
I’d honestly make an appointment with a podiatrist, tell them about your pain and just make sure you don’t have any problems with your arches (too high/low), your toe strength, your ankles, or your gait. You can also have issues with your hips, lower abdomen, buttocks etc that can affect how you walk, and this in turn can lead to painful feet.
A podiatrist will be cheaper than constantly buying boots like I did. Probably spent about £1000 on different pairs of boots over the years before discovering that I was the problem!
Avoiding heel slip is nice but not necessary. My hiking boots move if I force them but when I’m walking they are fine. Never a single blister due to good socks, lacing them well and dealing with any issues early. Blisters are caused by motion, contact and dampness and good socks will help isolate the motion, soften the contact and vent the dampness.
Its been a long time since I was a boot fitter but the two bits of advice I would give are as follows. First, different manufacturers work from different lasts, wooden moulds for foot shape that the boot is built around. This means that if you find the right manufacturer for you then they will fit better, whereas other manufacturers will never fit. Length, width, height and shape of your foot are all important. A good fitter will know which brands suit which foot shapes.
Second, you can achieve quite a lot with varying how you lace the boot. You are looking for it to be snug over the top of your foot as that is what holds the foot down and prevents most movement. I like getting it snug from the toe upwards, putting in a double overhand knot to hold the tension at the ankle and then tying the ankle loops much looser. Things like looping top down on the top eyelets can prevent rubbing on the Achilles for example.
Some manufacturers these days when ordering online have a “wear them as you like and return no questions asked policy”, I think Brooks and Hoka do (the latter sell boots).
My other tip is to measure your feet yourself in cm and then use the cm figure rather than traditional sizes.
Nowhere near me would be able to sort boots out, I’d have to go to a specialist when in the Lakes
https://www.altberg.co.uk/boot-fitting/boot-fitting-at-the-altberg-factory-shop are a UK manufacturer with a factory fitting service, if you can get to them.
Cotswolds. The staff there generally are interested in outdoor pursuits. The guy that sold my wife her boots was also a keen hiker and had a lot of advice and knowledge of the brands instore.
Also take a clean pair of socks you’d walk in with you to ensure the right fit.
£60 is pretty low end for walking boots but that’s not to say these are bad because all boots need wearing in.
Let your feet recover and go out in them again and you should notice a massive difference.
My job involves walking around a good chunk of the day and some work boots can be very comfortable. Granted I’ve not gone hill walking in them but I’m sure they would do the job.
Seeing as you can’t take them back , take them to a shoe repairers and they can stretch them for you
worth a try wouldn’t cost much . It’s a steel foot that can be enlarged and done over night 👍
Cotswalds
Where are you located? If near South Wales, I’d recommend Up And Under in Cardiff, but tbh, the decent ranges are likely to be twice what you paid or more.