Wet Caligae

Hiked cross town(San Francisco) in the caligae. Not all that far but a few miles anyway. As luck would have it, the walk home was in a pretty decent downpour. It was even a cold day so I was wearing thick wool socks and got a great window into wet weather usage.

While I was moving my feet stayed warm even with the wet socks. While I was soaked through to the skin I wouldn't say the soles of the sandals were saturated and my feet didn't slide around at all. Not sure if the lack of sliding was due to the wool or just that it was still sort of dry under my feet. Either way the caligae didn't stretch or lose shape as a thought might happen and I can say they passed the wet weather test pretty well.

Once they dried out I think they may have actually been improved by getting wet. They certainly molded more to my foot shape and they seem to have shrunk in all the right spots. They also dried slightly more rigid than they were. Had I used a thicker leather that might be undesirable but as noted before this pair was made of somewhat thinner material than the historic examples I've seen in museums and books.

This will be yet another chunk of good information to consider for the next pair.