Vechten, open sundays 2004

Fectio Index

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Fort Vechten
Sundays in 2004

This section shows some of the pictures made while we're guarding the tower on sundays, members of Fectio, Corbvlo and Legio X Gemina taking turns.

October 17th, the last day

A rather bleak last day in which Andreas was joined by two of legionaries of Leg. X Gemina, Sander and Ronald. A day in which it also turned out that Andreas in his 4th-c. Late Roman clothing was much better adapted to colder weather than his 2nd-c. counterparts, who had freezing extremities despite the open fire. Gotta be a Late Roman, gentlemen! The tower will now be closed down for the winter. see you next spring!

Andreas in his snug woolen outfit.

The Argelier belt, found in southern France.

And from the back. The belt was reconstructed by Holger Ratsdorf.

October 10th, a nice day

A 180-degree panoramic spread, the shadows are lengthening.

A very nice day, sunny and clear skies, although the wind is clearly getting colder. Not many visitors, about 50, which was good because Andreas was on his own..again!

A tower in the fall...

Our simple yet beautiful draco spreads its purple wings against the cobalt sky... (yes I am overreacting!)

Andreas guards the tower.

Yes I meant that!

October 3rd, a slow day

A grey day, but dry and not cold yet. Andreas had the tower to himself, and not many visitors stopped by - just about 40. Too bad, he had a new cingulum to show: a late 4th c. belt from Argeliers, southern France, and a beauty it is!

Andreas & Marrit.

A beautiful belt with colorful stitches and tinned decorations all round.

Even on a slow day there are kids who like to wear a Roman helmet.

With the stairs being taken down, it's time to pack the bags..

September 26th, fall

Fectio was out in full force at the tower, for a change (that's me and Andreas), and we had the tower to ourselves. That meant a colourful row of shields in front and the draco flying from the battlements! The weather was fine again after days on end full of rain and wind, it turned out we had a lucky break and no less than 600 visited the fort! A fair number of these came to see us on the tower, mostly kids and their parents this time. So, we had our hands full of show & tell with eager little people, most of them very interested and waiting in line to try out our gear. We had brought a chair (fearing long hours of boredom) but as it turned out we hardly had a moment to sit down!

Draco flying..

More show 'n tell..

Fectio holds the tower.

A colourful display.

I bet he wants to be a Roman now!

September 19th

Me and my family took advantage of the summer's last nice sunday to cycle to the tower. It was windy but dry, not a bad last day for the summer. We found the tower quite crowded! Instead of just two 'guards', no less than five turned up! Gerard and Monty for Corbvlo, Jos, Sander and Maaike for Gemina.

Jos/Josephus stands guard.

Gerard/Tiberius.

September 5th, late summer

A very hot and humid day. Nice for the visitors, not so nice for the guards! But we had a new large jar to keep them supplied with water on the tower. Attendance was good.

A hot and humid day..

Andreas and Sander.

Late Roman, late summer..

Need wood for the fire?

Show 'n tell..

August 29th, summer

After the summer break the season at the tower has started again. Andreas/Chariovalda, recently issued with his new Deurne Late Roman helmet, did the honours for Fectio. One problem though, due to some untimely gardening around the tower, the ground was too soft to attach the sturdy steel stairs. So, an authentic wooden ladder was the only option to get into the tower. Very period-wise, but not so good for the young and feeble!

The corn is nowr nearly obscuring the tower from view from the Marsdijk.

The corn is now nearly obscuring the tower from view from the Marsdijk.

Still standing after the summer break.

Fectio is back at the tower.

A proud member of the Comitatenses, Chariovalda has received new arms & armour.

Lookin' good!

Very good!

Detail of the Deurne helmet.

And another..

Suddenly re-enactment..

..was getting quite real!

Too real!

The guys doing show 'n tell with all the equipment displayed.

Chariovalda from above.

Three legionaries' helmets from different periods.

Jos and Sander from Legio X Gemina.

July 11th, summer?

Last sunday before the summer pause, but it did not look like any summer at all? Showers, not too many visitors, temperatures below 20C. But then the rain really came down...

Chariovalda posing with his new Pilleus.

Suddenly the storm was upon us.

A few drenched bikers sheltering with us.

A few wet bikers shelt- ering with us.

It was very wet for some time.

The tower was not exactly storm-proof, and I fear the door is on the wrong (western) side. Not exactly the best construction to keep the weather out! But it got better, and in the end we still had some 50 visitors. All in all a quiet but nice day. Now for that summer..

May 30th/31st.

Despite the rain later in the day we had a few hundred visitors climbing the tower. Some of them just saw it for the first time, other made a day trip to see it. Very nice poeple on the whole, especially the kids. Next day on Monday, it was the turn of Corbvlo to do the honours.

Chariovalda.

Valerius.

More shields, the left one of the Secunda Britones.

Corbvlo on the tower.

You are warned!

May 23rd: First Sunday.

The first occasion of 'normal' guard duty on the tower after the grand opening, it was the turn of Legio X Gemina in the person of Jos/Josephus, who also works on the fort for his day job. Which I guess is only right, after all he helped build the thing!

Josephus on the tower.

Josephus, the Batavian auxiliary.

Who's your host today? Josephus.

Josephus next to the 1997 milestone..

A 180-degree panoramic spread facing west of the first sunday, it's nice and quiet again.