Walking long distances in full roman battle kit

[Ironman]

Lol, you also realise my website is photoshopped and I'm not standing on the wall!!

[Squamatus]

The best bit of advice I can give you for the Wall walk is to make sure you have a means to cover your calf muscles to keep them warm. There's a thread by Crisus on the go for detail. It's sunny but around freezing here today, and could easily be the same at any time of year!

[Vindex]

Craig

Claire Marshall provided me with an excellent wool cloak which I have tested at a recent sheep dog trial. Very water resistent (not water proof!!) and sufficient for keeping sharp showers out. You'll find her in the Marketplace or her Forum name is Cheyenne.

Best of luck with your trek. Although striving for authenticity, don't forget a very Un-Roman camera/video!!

[M. Demetrius]

Although striving for authenticity, don't forget a very Un-Roman camera/video!!

Would this be a place to insert, "They'd have used them if they had them"? :wink:

[Helvetus]

It is my first post here; I have just discovered a few days ago the incredible world of Roman Re-Enactment (now I just have to find a group nearby… ), and amongst the legions of interesting websites, I found the French group Legion VIII Augusta.

They did an "experimental march" of 120 km in full kit that seems pretty impressive.
http://www.leg8.com
http://autun-bibracte-alesia.blogspot.ch

I am confident you can find their members here, and ask for practical advices?

[Jori]

i'm one of those guys

[Ironman]

Hi Jori,

I'm doing a walk for charity in June and was wondering if you can help me with some tips, firstly how did you sling carry the scutum over long distances, also do you line the sandals with felt to make them comfortable and what did you wear under the lorica to make it more comfortable?

Thanks for any help,

Regards
Craig

[Helvetus]

Well, congratulations Jori, too bad Autun is not closer to Geneva, your group seems incredible ;-)

[Jori]

We are in all of France and even beyond, not only Autun

Craig :

the scutum is carried like a backpack. The handles are tied to the bottom of the scutum leather protection and in the middle of the scutum.

Look here http://www.leg8.com/2012/mont_de_lans/Mo...ans_11.jpg

For the caligae, 2 pairs of wool socks will do, and well adjusted caligae. You can try cork soles between the caligae and your feet, but this is just to compensate our modern feet vs ancient feet (used to walk bare foot...).

Under the lorica, it depends of the lorica. As I said, since you seem to have a segmentata, the subarmalis is mandatory, with reinforcments at the shoulders. They could be made of wool (3 layers of wool).

Hope that helps!

[Helvetus]

We are in all of France and even beyond, not only Autun

Jori: Awesome! I'll wait a few weeks, continue this readings that remind me of my Latin studies years and see if this huge enthusiasm is still here, and I may enlist…

Craig: I have little experiences with caligae, however I walked everyday and made long hikes on mountains paths for the most part of previous year with home-made mexican "huarache" sandals, way less sophisticated than calligae (basically just a rubber or leather sole with a string between two toes and tied around the ankle…) or even barefoot. It is just a matter of days to get accustomed to it, and then it's perfect. I suspect it is the same with calligae as mexican sandals: if it rubs and creates blisters, then it is not adjusted well enough. You have to wear it for a walk, see if it works, adjust, loosen or tighten, etc.

Way better than any modern "compensated" shoes; it even helped tremendously with a knee pain I had when walking with contemporary hiking boots.

Sorry for the rant, but really, try to walk barefoot more and more, on more and more aggressive surfaces, longer and longer walk with your calligae to form and adjust them, and soon you won't even realize than you have just walked several kilometers on hard cutting rocks with a 2mm leather sole sandal…

Good luck with your project.

[Jdwyer]

While i have almost no experience with marching with Roman military attire i do have alot of experience with death marches and long humps with the marines. When it comes down to long walks theres almost no way to actually train your body for it to wher its not uncomfortable but your ability to tolerate it will go up. In reality sense you cant do marxhes in gear like you would workout in the gym because its terrible for you. You can walk. The big thing would be get used tp walking longer distances bear foot. How we do it is once a week do a longer walk around 10miles or 16km and every other day do 5 to 8k. And you cant do all of this barefoot just try to do atleast as much as you can. Im sure youve been already training for this but id limit heavy gear march to once every 2other weeks and when it comes to wet scenarios when you stop to rest which is a little over every 5k for 15 minutes air your feet meaning take off the caligae and socks and dry your feet if its rainy or air themt out if decent weather. As far as the training gradualy increase your distance as your body adapts but avoid to much to fast because of stress fractures. Sorry if this is redundant and already stated but good luck and wish i could make the march with ya

[Gaius Colletti]

Hi

I ordered from deepeeka but replaced sole with modern base as Im having trouble walking in them without huge blisters!

The weight is estimated as I have a large chest and had to get an extra large size, do you know the exact weight of one plus helmet scutum, gladius, Pugio and belts etc?

Good call on modifying the Deepeeka caligae, mine didn't last a whole day, I wouldn't trust them on a long walk like this unmodified lol.

Ahh so 30kg altogether, that makes much more sense. What kind of seg do you have, custom or Deepeeka?DSC?

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I reccomend the Castlefords from Armamentaria, they're much better than Deepeeka. I think DSC makes them.

Also, if Caligae hurt your feet I was taught to put a modern insole in them, and then cover that up with 1 oz leather.