>Distance from point a-b aside, I'm more interested in travel rates by
>foot, horse, cart and boat. Sadly, we don't have those to date in a
>HeroQuest or HeroWars product - at least, nothing I could find. I
>think there was a fairly good table in a Pendragon product but for
>the life of me, I can't seem to find it.
>
>I never really subscribed to the 'the distances are too tiny' school.
>
>
I'm a dues-paid member of the school myself ... :-)
>Modern travel has spoiled the sense of distance for most modern
>travelers. Unlike a few posters here, I spent quite a few years
>walking/canoeing/snowshoing through rather natural terrain (usually
>without benefit of road or path).
>
I've done some long-distance hiking, and my experience is that as far as
the raw travel rates are concerned, man on foot and man on horse do
about the same distance in one day, on passable terrain that is : about
25 miles. Travel by cart is about just as quick.
The advantage of man on horse is that the actual traveling is much
faster, although the need to take care of the horse (if he uses a single
horse) removes any advantage over man on foot on a day-to-day basis.
Horse-riding is less tiring, of course.
Another advantage is that if man on horse needs to spend a day going
somewhere in a hurry, he can go pretty far. If you change horses every
couple of hours or so, you can go very far indeed, as everyone keeps saying.
The advantage of man on foot , if he's an experienced walker, is that he can pass terrain where no horse dare tread, often with little effect on his daily movement rate. In fact, in rough terrain, walking is actually faster than riding - sometimes, MUCH faster.
An experienced walker in normal terrain can do between 25 and 40
miles/day in the summer **, and probably a maximum of 25 in winter
(provided the paths are open).
On skis I think you can do about 40-50 / day (?) Medieval pilgrims and
merchants often walked 40 miles/day, but medieval Europe was relatively
civilised and had relatively good roads.
Ob-Glorantha, travel times are probably better in Loskalm than in Trowjang or Dragon Pass ...
>I see no problem with it taking a
>week or so to go around a mountain. Mostali notwithstanding, there's
>not going to be a tunnel or a viaduct most of the time.
>
I've found that the biggest hindrances to swift travel are water,
weather (chill and wind especially), and vegetation.
Most mountains actually aren't that difficult per se (you can usually find animal tracks where there are no people tracks). But hacking your way through vegetation is VERY time-consuming. Weather is obvious.
A week or so to go around a mountain ? That's a BIG mountain !! LOL
It takes five days to cross the Pyrenees, as a concrete example, from the bottom of the foothils on one side to the bottom of the foothills on the other. Walking around them would just be a waste of time, all else being equal (if you're moving heavy equipment et cetera, have horses, it's mid-winter, etc obviously not so).
I've heard it can take as little as two weeks to walk the length of the Pyrenees **on their crests** (in summer, and avoiding most of the actual peaks, obviously).
Rivers on the other hand ... even in the modern world, walking to the next bridge can cost you a whole day's travel or more. Even a medium-size river is a much more impressive barrier than any mountain I've ever seen ... except in mid-winter, and it freezes ... :-)
just my two clacks ...
Julian Lord
This would be on modern roads, in good weather, for a modern sportsman, with modern sportsgear, high-tech sports shoes, and a full support team, but I guess walking magic could do the same for you.
I've no idea what's the world record distance walked in 24 hours, but it just has to be mind-boggling.
-- __________________________________ "Hmmm, I've heard of other powers. Can you tell me about ... ... Real Life ?"
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