Anniversary!

I nearly missed this one:

Sometime between lunch and tea-time, two thousand and seventy years ago today, Caius Iulius Caesar arrived in Britain. He had intended to make landfall at Dover, but the Brits were waiting for him. Once he saw the welcoming party on the cliff tops, he headed north along the shore, and made land-fall, probably somewhere near where the town of Walmer in Kent stands today.

As many as ten thousand Roman legionaries arrived in the same flotilla. The natives Brits turned up in chariots and gave them a bit of aggro, before a truce was arranged.

Roman reinforcements, including cavalry, tried the same crossing four days later, but were beaten by the weather.The same storm damaged some of Caesar’s landing boats, so repairs had to be undertaken, under the constant threat of British attack.

Foraging parties were sent out, and reported good crops of grain — most likely oats. They also found they were kept under close observation by those British charioteers.

Wisely, once boat repairs were complete, the Roman expeditionary force returned to Boulogne.

They would be back.