WALKING STICK GUIDE TO TALL AND IMPATIENT

OK well just one post then and one NOT on the miserable state of affairs of the UK and instead a helpful guide based on my experiences with walking sticks!

I had thought of this a few weeks back and that with more and more people losing disability and possibly Freedom Passes as i did a few years back that many would be having difficulty trying to get about while trying to save on public transport?!

Like I have tried to do.

Now I myself hate walking sticks, hate having to carry one around and added to this I am impatient my mind works a million miles a minute and my body wants to do the same. I have had, personally, a psychological battle I do not want to fight between my mind and my body over what my mind wants to do and what my body cannot.

My body often wins and even when my mind wins it will never be for very long and no more than a couple of hours at most.

Now one thing that  took my a long time to get to grips with, and kinda still am, is USING a walking stick and before long I realised after owning several that they differ a great deal.

Now what you should do is if you have one of those Shepherd Crook like walking sticks you see old people using then throw them away ... or get prepared to throw them away.

What you want is a hiking stick and do not buy the cheap ones you see around, I went through TWO that had built in torches that I thought would be handy. However within a couple of months the screw mechanisms that made the stick rigid failed and one had to be left in its full position, could not close when collapsed, while the other would not tighten at all.

What I use now is a Trespass Ascender and this has only three sections instead of four, less to go wrong, has the Shock Absorber in the higher section and not the bottom one and due to this feels more solid and sure.

A good guide to tall people who are impatient like me is have your hand in front of your body around the stomach area with your thumb pointing up while holding the stick. Place the ferrel, rubber bottom, towards your right and side while lowering to the floor. When hitting the floor I find it better if it is pointing away from your body.

Now once you do this I pull my hand back to the start in like a circular motion or arch. Long legs and long sticks tend to bump into each other I always found and becomes rather annoying, lol.

My Tresppass Transcender is 145cm when full extended and I am 6ft and you can see from one of the pictures I have provided that it is nigh on shoulder height, give or take a few centimetres.

Also if your hand or arm gets tired then altering the height often relieves this tiredness due to a new position.

Unfortunately for me because my pains affect both sides I am often, when finally resorting to using the stick, switching all over the place with the choice of hands and height and sometimes wonder if I should get a second one and go out with TWO of the darned things?! LOL.