To Pole Or Not To Pole?

I had recently been quoted the statistic that walking poles reduce the loading on your knees by upto 40% and, after the aches & pains Lawrence & I had experienced on the Trailwalker route a couple weeks ago, I decided to invest in some reasonably priced trekking poles to see how I get on with them. I set out at 7.15 this morning to try them out and hopefully beat the heat of the day (it was already 16.5degrees). I remembered from one of my earlier training walks that the hills around Bath were pretty similar to the terrain of the South Downs. My target was to get to Kelston Round Hill, a 218m "summit" with panoramic views all the way around. Although only about 4 miles from the car park the aim of the day was to try out my poles rather than cover a long distance (I've got next weekend in London with Steve & Richard for that).

It did indeed turn out to be a good test and I found out quite a lot about using poles. The most important thing seems to be to get into a natural rhythm (although my wife and daughter will deny that I have any rhythm!). However, on hard packed ground and gravel the constant clack, clack, clack as I planted the poles tended to become quite hypnotic. I think I may have even drifted off into a trance at one point.
Initially I found that my arms started aching, but I think this was down to me gripping the poles too hard, and there was always the potential of blisters on my hands (as if just getting them on your feet wasn't bad enough!).

I reached the top of the hill and paused for a brief rest and to take some photos, before setting off back down to give the poles a good downhill test. I actually found them more effective downhill and could tell that my knees weren't taking the pounding I would normally expect on those sorts of slopes.


Overall, I'm still not 100% convinced about them. They certainly made a difference for my knees, but that needs to be offset by having to carry something else, possible blisters on hands and just not having your hands free.
More practice is required and if I decide against using them they'll be great for sword fighting or growing beans up!


The view from Kelston Round Hill nr. Bath