compeed anti blister stick is i believe based on hydronated vegetable fat as opposed to vaseline which is petroleum based, so might be cheaper to use Trex vegetable fat from tescos than compeed, wouldn't recomend cooking with compeed though

For mountain marathons where my feet will wet all day I use Compeed anti-blister stick, which costs £4.60 at Boots and seems to work much better than Vaseline. I think there is some silicone (or similar) in it that seems to react with the water and lessen the friction. also, two pairs of thin socks works better for me than one pair of thick. And if i want to tape up i use the leukoplast stuff someone else mentioned. I've not done a 100 though.

I agree you have to go to the source of the problem whether loose fitting socks, wet feet, hard skin, etc. I too have suffered for years with 'heel rub' and deep blisters. Following several attempts over the years to find correctly fitting socks, boots, tape/gel, I now walk in trail shoes or similar and there's more variety nowadays - no problems! Trouble is the feet get a bashing on rock eg Scafell.

I use Salomon off road trainers that fit my feet really tightly. I replaced the inners with Superfeet High Profile Superfeet (they're £32 but my son got them cheap). I vaseline my toes and heels and use ladies pop socks (you know, ankle stockings), and SmartWool hiking socks. The pop socks stick to my feet and do the sliding rather than my skin. On the 100 I changed socks every 20 miles. I also wore gaiters to stop grit and dust getting in. I had no blisters on the Exmoor but I did suffer on the Chiltern because I couldn't get my favourite shoe. I now have a decent shoe for the Northumberland. Good luck

Oops - I forgot to mention that Vonhof also publishes a biweekly E-Zine which sometimes has useful tips. You can subscribe at http://vonhof.typepad.com/fixingyourfeet/ ; do check out his blog at http://www.vonhof.typepad.com/happy_feet/ as well.

It looks like the 4th Edition of Vonhof's "Fixing Your Feet" is due next month; Amazon.com have it listed for May, though there's no mention on the official - and very useful - website (http://www.footworkpub.com/FYF.html). I've found the previous edition invaluable; judicious use of taping (Leukoplast is the easiest to get in the UK) has pretty much eliminated the problems I used to have with surface blisters. Deep heel blisters (not to be confused with achilles tendon bursitis) really are a nuisance, though, and I can only add to the comments regarding choice of footwear - I find the basic gel cushioned Asics shoes (Guts/Tiogra/Enduro) much better in this respect than "shaped" offerings such as my otherwise-excellent Inov-8 Mudrocs/Terrocs. If they only had the grip of the Mudrocs I'd have a universal solution .....

Dave thanks for your information about Lanolin. I used to get mine from Boots the Chemist but they stopped stocking it some time ago.

I too tend to get deep seated heel blisters after about 45 miles. I dont suffer from surface blisters generally. However a fellow member once gave me a tip, pure Lanolin spread thickly over most of the foot and even thicker on the heels. Its a messy job as its very gooey, but works every time. The feet feel great with no hot spots. After having liberally applied the Lanolin you have to turn your sock inside out and peel it onto the foot, smooth out any creases and thats it, the sock is now firmly glueds to your foot. If your foot moves about in your boot, the sock goes with it, thus much less heat is generated. I get mine from 'Mitchells Wool Fat Soaps Ltd.'
Dave.

I tend to get two types of blisters - external ones where the foot rubs against the shoe and internal ones where the lower levels of skin rub against the hard skin on the surface and eventually separate.

The first kind are easy to prevent and trea. If you know where they are likely to occur, just stick on some adhesive padding or moleskin on the area affected. On the walk, Germoline on a large piece of plaster will usually stop the pain. Compeed isn't a good idea while still walking as it is difficult to remove if further damage occurs in the same area.

The second kind are more complex as they don't tend to burst themselves; they just spread under the skin causing more pain as they go. My solution to these is quite drastic - I take a sharp sterile knife and slice off the top, covering the open wound with plenty of plaster, thus preventing further spreading. It isn't a pleasant task and you won't find St Johns doing this for you! These tend to occur around the heel and I agree with Chris Chorley that shaped footbeds are a cause. Flat insoles are much better.

On 100s, blisters are, for many people, an inevitable hazard. The only comfort is that if you keep walking on them they go numb. They only hurt when you stop and set off again!

There is a book called 'Fixing your feet' which is pretty comprehensive.

My tips are: get rid of dead skin and keep your feet generally soft. A week before an event or expedition put some surgicial spirit on your feet once a day to toughen them up. During the event use loads of super absorbent foot powder - blisters can only form if there is moisture about.

Not too much movement between shoe/boot and foot. Flatter insole better at heel than one curved around heel (reduce vertical movement/friction at sides/back of heel). Plenty of space around toes. Good socks, your choice. Wet feet ok for 30 miles, more and they get too soft (we started White Peak 100 with wet feet due to a river; not good). Fresh socks every 25/30 miles on a 100 (feels good if nothing else). Do lots of walking to harden feet up, and scrape off excess hard skin any way, my choice is soften feet in bath first. Other than that, live with it !

having read an account of someones troubles with blisters whilst walking the 100, i was wondering what methods people use in the prevention and treatment of blisters. Of course the obvious is good fitting footware, but what else? vasaline, i tried this once and it was like putting my feet in a chip pan, made my feet worse, but it works for some, anyone used talc? I saw a lady on the 100 spray her feet with what looked like freeze spray, i wonder if this worked? compeed plasters are great for after a walk on clean feet, but tend not to adhere very well on sweaty feet, i tend to use second skin held in place with a thin bandage as opposed to tape as i find tape can cause the skin to blister underneath as the feet move causing the tape to pull and heat up the skin, i must say that i get very few blisters now but i did find it trial and error and if anyone has other remedies, i'm sure people who struggle with blisters would love to hear them