Thanks for your replies, Thurlo 'trekking' socks seem worth a try. Cheers

Ask 100 walkers about socks and your probably get 100 different answers? I nearly always walk in boots and have found thorlo light weight men's hiking sock along with bridgedale mens coolmax liner socks work for me. I also use Sudocrem around the ankle which stops heat rash in the hotter months.

I use Thorlo all the tiem, for long distance walking and backpacking and general mountaineering. Mountaineering or Trekking socks for me, which are far superior as stated to their Hiking sock.
I have tried Smartwool and they were a disaster by comparison, they cant hold their shape over distance and end up loose around the foot like a soggy cloth. Bridgedale fully engineered socks are excellent too, but again not the general variety, the better made fully engineered ones.
Dave.

Thorlo are good, but I have also used Bridgedale, Smartwool and Patogonia socks. The important thing (for me - to avoid blisters) is to chose a mid to heavyweight loopknit sock with a high wool content. That is, at least 40-50% wool. For Thorlo, that means their "Trekking" socks. Not their "Hiking" socks

Mixtures are fine, particuarly in wet conditions, you cannot beat good quality wool mixtures. I avoid pure synthetic fibre socks. Always look at the fine print on the packet - for the fibre content.

I have noticed in the forum that many people are impressed by these socks for long distance walking. After browsing on the internet there appears to be lots of different styles of Thorlo socks so which ones are we talking about :-)