Valkenburg/Castleford style caliga step by step

[Neuraleanus]

I completed my second attempt at the Valkenburg caligae, this time about a half inch shorter and with more properly lenghtened ankle straps, and I had a chance to try them out yesterday. I went out with Legio XXII in Cincinnati, Ohio, for a route march. We walked a little over a mile and back. I did not carry full gear as my scutum harness broke, but preliminary indications are that these new caligae are holding out quite well. I wore wool socks and there was very little sliding of my feet. The thin straps held very well.

This time I stitched the backs using the through-the-leather edge seam as Martin has described, though I only did this on the outside (I wasn't brave enough to attmept the inside). Over both sides I then tacked on layers of thin goat leather as reinforcement. I also stitiched the heels using a simple cross stitch. If you look at the cutting drawing, it looks like the heel cutout is intended to fold back into the upper. I still want to add a tunnel stitch between the out soles and the uppers, but this has to wait till my curved awl arrives.