Real stories · Trainers versus the wet-leaf season

Wet leaves, slippery pavements, aching feet — these trainers answer all three

Trainers that treat wet leaves as a solved problem — that's what these are, and anyone over sixty knows why that matters. I'm 67, and the leaf-fall season quietly changes how I walk: eyes down, steps short, one hand ready for a railing. Between the slippery pavements and feet that ache by the third errand, autumn walking had become a defensive sport.

What I wanted was a shoe that let me walk like it was June.

Then I found the Aureline from a British label called York Boutique — a lightweight trainer absolutely scattered with tiny sparkling crystals, with a cushioned inside and a low wedge sole. I chose the white; there are seven colours.

The engineering is underneath. A properly cushioned, supportive inside takes the strain off feet and ankles hour after hour, and the non-slip sole grips wet pavement — which is why Winnie's morning route has gone back to full length, leaves or no leaves — while the crystals on top do something no orthopaedic shoe has ever done for me: they get compliments. Light, breathable, and on with one pull of the laces.

Cushioned where feet ache, steady where pavements shine, with a non-slip sole for the wet-leaf season — and enough sparkle that nobody would ever call them sensible.

They were £34.95, half the usual £70 — or as I did the sums: less than one physio appointment, wearable daily. A fortnight to send them back and free delivery settled it.

They have since done a fortnight of dog walks, one big shop and a rainy Saturday in town, with no aching and — more remarkably — no shortened steps, and outside the supermarket a woman my age pointed at them and asked 'are those as comfortable as they are pretty?' Both, I told her. In that order.

If the wet-leaf season also changes how you walk, do have a look. The Aureline is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 230 women, it comes in seven colours, in UK sizes 3 to 9 — and at half price the white goes first.