About 4 years ago I went into Cotswold to buy a new pair of Meindl Burmas - size 11 (I've got daintly feet).

'Let us measure your feet sir' said the nice man.

'Okay' sez I, but I want Size 11. I've used Size 11 Meindl Burmas for years and they've been marvellous.

'You need Size 10.5 sir. Size 11 are far too big, they'll fail prematurely'

I tried the 10.5, they were too tight.

'We'll stretch them for you sir' said the nice man.

'Okay' sez I. (But why should you need to stretch size 10.5 when Size 11 are comfortable?)

Nice man comes back with the stretched boots and they certainly feel better.

A week later I'm back and see the same nice man, the boots are too tight. 'No problem sir, we'll stretch them for you'. And so he did.

The next week I backpacked the Limestone Way. It was a lovely little trip. All was well until the last day when the boots crippled me.

I went back to see the nice man. 'Don't worry sir, we'll stretch them for you'. And so he did. Again.

A few weeks later I did the TGO Challenge. The boots were comfortable. Great - the stretching had clearly worked. But the boots leaked. Badly.

It appears that all the stretching had damaged the Goretex liner. In fact the Goretex liner was completely buggered.

To be fair to Cotswold they replaced the boots with Size 11. That replacement pair has just failed - 4 years later. In that 4 years they've been supremely comfortable and I have had warm & dry tootsies. I'm happy with that, but very UNhappy with the recommendation of Cotswold.

I've now bought another pair of Meindl Burmas, Size 11, and the fit is just perfick.

I bought them from Cotswold but declined their kind offer to measure my feet.

Over to you!

BTW, ask Terry to phone me - he's always out when I ring!

JJ

And as if by magic.

X socks trekking (for me) are the dogs... In trail Shoes.

In boots (which I only use in winter) I prefer a thicker sock.
The X socks thicker fluffier trekking socks, or the hard wearing socks that Chris uses.

As to sizes..

Subjective opinion.
With modern boots (unlike the old leather boots) I reckon should fit.
If they don't they are too small.

Shouldn't stretch modern boots.
Makes no sense.