Wet shoes can take an age to dry unaided, and when you don't have another pair – or are simply short on time – then it's great to have a quick and cunning way to speed things up. With that in mind, cyclist and TV presenter Anna Glowinski runs through what to do with your saturated shoes.
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How to quickly dry your soggy riding shoes
Her top tip is to use (drum roll please) nappies! Designed and developed to absorb liquid, they'll soak up the damp contents of your riding shoes in no time.
Before you get the drying stage, you'll want to wash off any mud, and loosen the bindings or laces so the shoes are as open as possible to allow air to flow and the water to evaporate. If you've got removable liners, you can take them out and dry them separately.
Other techniques for drying wet shoes (use with care)
- Stuff them with newspaper. It works, though not quite as quickly as the nappies – though you can then recycle the newspaper. Screw up old sheets of newspaper and stuff them right inside the shoe. The paper will absorb the water. You can speed up the process by replacing the newspaper when it's fully soaked.
- In front of the fire, if you have one. But NOT on top of the heater/stove, and a good safe distance from the heat source, or else you'll end up with at best melted shoes and at worst a charcoal crater where your house used to be. Prop them up so they're sitting parallel to the heat source
- A boot warmer/dryer. Beloved of skiers and snowboarders, if you regularly get your shoes wet then these things are amazing. They're also relatively easy to find online and not massively expensive. Goodbye, cold soggy footwear!
