I have spent three months in Antarctica and I never once got cold toes. But cycling the six miles to work at the moment, I fear frostbite.
The rest of my extremities are fine: my hood keeps my ears warm under my helmet. My fingers warm up nicely in my bog-standard cycling gloves. But my toes abandon me, succumbing to the icy temperatures and throbbing as they freeze.
I have tried up to four pairs of socks. I have tried plastic bags. But nothing keeps the chill out. I had a mad daydream involving somehow sticking one of those old-fashioned charcoal-burning handwarmers inside my shoes - but then I woke up.
So what's the solution? I guess there is a high-tech answer, but until now I've been too cheap to cough up for Goretex socks or some other fancy footwear. Are they worth it? I have read that some of the bootees are good but wear out pretty quickly.
Or is there a low-tech trick I have missed? In Antarctica, we had mittens and balaclavas made from wool, but they had been knitted too big and then deliberately shrunk in the wash - they were fantastic, but can you get socks like this, and where?
