A Stroll along the 'Gartree Road'.
On 16th February 2008, four members of the BATAVI celebrated their beloved Leader's birthday by walking a six-mile section of Roman road in late Roman kit.
The Gartree Road runs from Godmanchester to Leicester and was built in around 45 AD by the Legio XIV gemina and their associated auxiliary unit, the Cohors Prima Bataviorum (we like to keep the family link).
The section we walked runs for around six miles, from the village of Glooston to near Little Stretton in south Leicestershire. Most of this portion is a track with a section where the Roman road lies beneath a B-road. The landscape can best be described as rolling countryside.
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Left: We started our walk in a belligerent mood.
Right: We stop for a drink by a wayside establishment. Sadly, the roadside cafe was long gone but there is evidence that is was once there. Finds of 1st to 4th/5th century pottery including large quantities of wine and oil amphorae has been found in the field next to where we are standing. About half a mile to our right, there was a Roman-British settlement in the 2nd to 4/5th centuries.
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These photos how the line of the Roman road well.
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Heading down the hill to the first ford.
(Okay - we admit both fords have footbridges so we kept our feet dry)
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Left: Two Batavians prepare to defend a signpost to the death! Crossing the B6047.
Right: The start of the section that is now a minor road.
Just before lunch, we happened to bump into the Bishop of Leicester, who was doing a Lenten Walk around the parishes of the county.
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Lunch break! - a feast of posca, bread, cheese, pork and smoked sausage.
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On patrol in the chilly February afternoon sunshine.
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Crossing the second ford and the hill up to the end of the walk.
The four Batavians reach the end of the walk.
Some rough calculations showed that we had walked the route at about two-thirds the speed expected from Roman troops - still it was a pleasant, if cold, day for a stroll.
For information on this route and many others, get yourself a copy of 'In the Footsteps of Caesar- Walking Roman Roads in Britain' by Helen Livingston. Published by Dial House in 1995.