The Expeditor Active AQ are waterproof walking shoes from British brand Berghaus, designed to be tough, durable and comfortable. They are intended to be 'As rugged and waterproof as our hiking boots yet as lightweight, flexible and comfortable as a trainer'.
In terms of comfort the Active AQ shoes certainly hit the spot. This is a soft and pliant walking shoe by anyone's standards, with generous cushioning around the ankles, tongue and footbed. The Ortholite insole compliments a very flexible sole unit making this a great everyday outdoor shoe with all day wearing comfort. The soft and pliable Pittards suede upper enhances comfort levels, the mesh inserts helping your feet to breathe through the waterproof liner which performs faultlessly in torrential British weather. The payoff for all this comfort is performance in technical terrain. Take the Expeditor Active off the well-maintained paths of your local arboretum and things start to get a little loose with the soft and supple nature of the shoe not providing enough support for the foot.
The sizing is absolutely spot on for our UK10.5 feet and we found the toe box to be roomy, which again is great for comfort, but your foot quickly starts to slop around within the shoe when the going gets tough.
The Expeditor Active shoes sport Berghaus' own Optistud sole, these are grippy on all but the muddiest paths where the relatively shallow lugs start to struggle.
The designers sat firmly on the fence when penning the looks of the Expeditor Active with a 'neither here nor there' feel to them. This will appeal to some, but we generally like a little bit more pizzazz in our footwear, even if it will only be seen by the odd chaffinch and possibly a rabbit or two.
Overall these are great shoes if you like gentle weekend walks in the country, a bit of gardening and daily dog walks but for anything more strenuous we'd suggest looking towards the more technical end of the Berghaus range.
