Mephisto

In his book «A Walk Across France,» the English banker Miles Morland recounts how his wife Guislaine developed severe blisters early in their 560 km trek from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. The solution was to buy Guislaine a pair of Mephistos. The solution worked — her blisters vanished overnight.
We walk a lot. Our normal mode of travel involves walking and public transportation from before dawn until late at night. We have also been known to wander for two or three hours in search of the perfect meal. So, odd as it sounds, footwear is a critical component of both our traveling and culinary lives.
After reading Morland’s book, we bought our first Mephistos. Today, we are each on our fourth pair. The good news is that we still wear all four — Mephistos might be hyper-​expensive, but their inexpensive refurbishment policy means that you will be wearing these shoes for the rest of your life. They might not be the most elegant footwear, but as walking shoes, they set the world standard.
In our photo here, Ben’s feet are enclosed in a pair of Eccos, Mephisto’s only serious competitor. The Danish Eccos are less expensive, and we do love them. But for really long treks we still pull the Mephistos out of the closet.