“Unseasonal” Weather for Salt Day in Drotwich!

It’s been a fair while since I joined Deva Victrix for the trip to Rome, and after a busy season with Legio VIII Augusta it was great to see most the gang again when a small contingent of our legion came along to help out at at the Droitwich Salt Fair. As my rather dreadful pun in the title suggests, the weather was great – warm bright sunshine all day – not what we’ve come to expect in a year that has seen far too many outdoor events cancelled due to flooding, etc.

Whilst John and Nick Backhouse took it in turns with me to stamp Roman coins and to demonstrate our “Scorpion” 3-span catapulta for visitors, my lovely wife, Cathryn was kept busy all day writing visitor names for them in Roman “Vindolanda script”. She even found time to sneak off for some supplies to keep us going.

What a lovely crowd the people of Droitwich turned out to be! We’ve all done shows where the ice cream van has generated more interest than we have, but not this time: There were loads of really interested people asking all sorts of questions all day. This was certainly one of the best events I’ve done all year. Even the Children’s Roman Army seemed almost ‘tame’ – although that may have just been the rope barrier between us giving me extra confidence!

The media glory went, of course, to Deva’s own Marcus, who appeared in the Worcester News write up. But we can’t complain about that: After all, he was at the vangard of the coffee and sausage/bacon butty supply chain – which is much appreciated if, like me, you didn’t get a break all day! Maybe putting on some armour and doing the march wouldn’t have been such a bad idea after all… at least it wasn’t quite as hot as it was in Rome.

Thanks to Gittus for the copy of the “Trip to Rome” video. I will certainly try to make it down to the reception in October.

G. Flavinus Squamatus

Coh VI Legio VIII Augusta

Romans at Rockingham Castle, near Corby

I’ve just about unpacked everything from our Bank Holiday visit to Rockingham Castle History Fair II

It was almost as hot as it was in Rome – and there I was in my “winter woolies” as worn in Lorrach, Germany!

Luckily I managed to avoid wearing my armour for most of the time. This is just as well, since I didn’t have my friend Marcus there to pour water down my neck to keep cool!

I managed to get a couple of pairs of new boots made.

There were plenty of native traders there too. I bought enough woollen cloth to make lots of new cloaks for the Legion. It won’t always be this warm.

Sqvamatvs

No rest for the weary Legionary!

This time last week, I was busy adding extra kilometers to the 7.5 I’d already marched around Rome in full kit. According to the pedometer, we walked a marathon (26 miles) in Rome over the weekend, plus at least another 10 miles in Lorrach!

I’m now getting ready to head off on Thursday with my own Legion, the VIII Augusta, to Rockingham Castle near Corby, Northamptonshire for another historical event. I bet the weather won’t be as nice!

It makes me realise how hard the guys from Deva Victrix work – some of them were back on duty the day after we got back… Rather them than me!

Squamatus