My name is Keith Plimmer. I live in Huddersfield. I am sixty-one years old and I work part-time at a builders' merchant in Lindley, three days a week, which gives me plenty of time for this.
I started documenting lone shoes in October 2009. I was walking near Marsden — I go out most weekends if I can, always have done — and I came across a shoe on its own in a field gateway. Right boot. Brown. No explanation. I took a photograph on my phone and wrote it in my notebook and that was that, really. I've been doing it ever since.
I've now documented 321 shoes. They are all transcribed onto The Register, which took me the best part of a wet fortnight, and every one of them now has a trip report of sorts — the early ones are short, because the notebook was short, and I will not pad a record out for the sake of it. I am glad it is done.
My preferred locations are moorland and reservoir paths in the Holme Valley and Saddleworth area, though I'll go further afield for a good tip-off. I have driven to Skipton twice on the basis of a reported sighting. The first time it were a good brown boot and worth the diesel. The second time it were a wellington boot. I logged that one separately and I've noted my reservations, but it were still a nice day.
I take my own photographs. I use a digital camera but the results tend to come out a bit grainy, which I've never bothered to fix. They suit the subject.
The moor shoes are my favourite. There's something about a shoe on a moor — the view it's had, the weather it's been through. I don't analyse it. I just find them and note them down and take my sandwiches and sit with them for a bit.
If you've seen a shoe, please do submit a sighting. Only one other person regularly submits — Barry, from Dewsbury — but I'm always glad to hear from anyone.
You can reach me at: keithplimmer1963 [at] hotmail.co.uk
This website was built by my nephew Gary in 2009. I've kept it going myself since 2011. I am aware it looks a bit old. I don't mind.