In no time, we arrived. We again boarded off slowly. I saw just in the distance Mr. Cheney wander off into the gate. He came back saying, ‘’we need a password to get in. And the password is Toe macular.’’ I had never heard of that word. After all of that, we marched into the metal gates and there was a woman standing right below the fort. She seemed to be wearing ragged blue and pink robes, a tear at the bottom of her foot and brown sandals it seemed to appear. We continued to march to her. When we were really close to her, she introduced herself as ‘Nata.’ Some of the students at the back and the front shouted ‘Toe macular!’ She simply replied with, ‘Toe macular is the Latin word for sausage!’ That I did not know.

She spoke about marching for a bit. Then, suddenly, we broke into a full on march into the fort gates. We were going to look outside, first. We marched straight until we came to this thatched building in front of us. Inside was the tiny gift shop, and the museum. We put our coats and bags onto some blue pegs, and handful went to the toilet. After everyone was done, we gathered around Nata and she told us that the Latin word for left and right is ‘Cin and Dex’. That was an interesting fact in my opinion. We marched outside the fort and then once again gathered around Nata again. She was telling us about this ditch, that Celts would go into to get into the Roman fort. Since it was a popular place to get into the fort, Romans placed spiky triangles, I forgot what they were called. Then she told us that Celts sometimes wore nothing. Nothing at all. They also had blue paint around their body to show that they were fierce and the leaders had swords, but not warriors. They were also known as Barbarians and Peasants.

After that, we went back inside the fort. Up above us was the fort. That looked like my favourite bit of the journey. We were going up there next. We climbed the steep steps, and finally, we got to the top. Nata told us a really gruesome fact (in my opinion), that Celts climbed the fort walls, through the nettles and thorns, and if they reached the top, they were easily stabbed by Roman soldiers. After she told us that fact, we came down. Next to the fort, was a big training place. We entered it and then we played a game. There were 2 teams, one with Romans shields and foam javelins. We had to throw the javelins into the shields. Of course, I missed every shot. And then we switched teams. It was nearly time to go.

Next, we went to the museum, where we put our bags. We basically stayed there for the majority of the trip, while others brought money for the gift shop. I dressed up as an angry Roman. After that, we had a quick snappy break, and then we made our way to the mini-buses. And that was it. An amazing trip that was!

I learned a lot of things on this half-day trip. I also enjoyed it as more as I learned. I would definitely go again. Thank you for your time in reading this.

Year 14 Cadent Internship Graduation 2018