TK Maxx in Hammersmith, London

I popped in to TK Maxx in Hammersmith to see what they had in the way of walking boots; next to nothing, but while I was there I thought I'd see if they had any larger sized women's shoes and lo and behold, there was a whole four shelves devoted to us bigfoots. Many of the shoes were pretty minging, but there were some old Amber and Jade styles and a few pairs of Birkenstocks together with odd random makes that I didn't know. Unfortunately they only had the A&J shoes in size 8 or 11 (and even though they come up small, I'm still not a size 11!).

I also ordered some green heels and brown sandals from Next. The green heels were more like a size 8 so they'll be going back (a shame as they were really cute) but the sandals, although a neat fit, will be useful comfy and stylish summer shoes.

New Look's size 9 (42) has proved interesting - some of them, usually with square toes, fit my 9.5 feet, but the pointy ones are too tight. £16 can't be bad!

On the subject of walking boots, I tried a pair of Salomon Elios XCR boots on, and although expensive, they fit my narrow feet really well. Usually men's walking boots are really wide and blocky, but these are very cute. I took a size 10 in them though, the 9.5 was too neat with thick socks on. But Cotswold Outdoor, where I was looking, stock some ladies' boots in a size 9 - Meindl I think. The salesgirl said she had so many requests for size 8+ walking boots for women that she found it astounding that only one maker had begun to make larger size boots for women. Twas ever thus.