Travelling Distances (on paper)

Discussion in 'Research' started by Leo, Jul 28, 2008.

  1. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Yah, Terry, I was thinking of settler migrations in covered wagons, too.

    Troop movements would not be entirely limited by animal travel speed or terrain. because opposing armies are a perhaps dominant factor for a reasonably prudent general.

    Cattle drives are probably more reasonable. Settlers would want to minimize travel times and supply consumption, but wagons could really slow them down.

    Stagecoach runs are probably a decent model for sustained travel speeds though.
     
  2. Ungood

    Ungood New Member

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    caravans (covered wagons) in the colonial times did only about 10 - 12 miles in a day but the normal walking distance for a horse drawn wagon was roughly 7 miles, for a total of 14 miles in the day.

    Mainly the speed was so slow because there was a great deal of walking, children, families and things like that.

    Military distances were marching, 20 - 25 for determined troops.

    A normal person can only realistically walk about 6 miles in a day with out conditioning.
     
  3. CDRW

    CDRW Contributor Contributor

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    That seems awfuly low to me. Last year I was walking ten or more miles a day in the middle of summer with no problems, and I hadn't done any special conditioning. For quite a while before that I had been biking a lot though, so mabey that made a difference. Either way, unless the character was a nobleman or something I would expect him to be in good enough shape to walk longer than that.

    P.S. This is an awsome thread. I never would have thought there would be so much good info out there. I really liked that site that someone posted.
     
  4. Ungood

    Ungood New Member

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    I would wager that you worked up to that 10 miles, it was not you just started at 10 miles and ended at 10 miles.

    We are talking about normal "First Timers" going for a "Long Walk" anyone that has done some level of endurance work or fitness training, working out in the gym counts, has done "Special Training"
     
  5. CDRW

    CDRW Contributor Contributor

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    Kind of. I went from biking that distance to walking it because I had a friend with me and his knee started hurting, so the doctor told him to stay off the bike for a couple months. It wasn't excercise, it was travel, so I had to cover the distance regardless.
     
  6. topper

    topper New Member

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  7. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    I found it, but it's quite well hidden, which might explain why it's not very busy :)
     
  8. Leo

    Leo New Member

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  9. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    The guy's in reasonably good shape, but is more used to short sprints that long distance movement.

    So I imagine if he had to walk any distance on foot, (perhaps he worked his horse into the ground and it couldn't go any further) then he would be able to walk on foot to the nearest civilization without too much difficulty.

    As for the US Civil War stuff, I'll definitely look into it, but I'm British, so I don't know much more about the war than that which I picked up whilst playing on 'Gun'. :)
     
  10. Ungood

    Ungood New Member

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    I have some questions.

    Does it really matter how far he travels in a day?

    Allow me to explain: If the bad guy has a two day head start and it takes the hero three days to catch the bad guy people will just accept that as plausible.

    Come to think of it, if the bad guy has a two day head start and hero catches them in a day, people would find that acceptable as the "hero is more driven then the bad guy" or a varied number of excuses.

    Unless you are writing a story about travel and the realism of distance becomes a major issue IE: "The Adventures of Bob Lost on his 237.63 Mile Hike to Noplacespecial"

    You can loosely toss about 50 miles a day at people and most of them won't blink. It seems rational and believable. You could toss 75 if you made it look like he was stressing for it and 100 if you made it seem like he as pushing for it.

    If they do look this up they will find that it can be done and is done by Endurance Horse Racers so it would not toss up any red flags to anyone.

    You might get one or two people that really know horses and traveling though those environments that *might* say something but in truth they realize that this is fantasy and there is quite a bit of room for artistic liberties and circumstance situations.

    Most people do not even question this unless it seems just beyond belief, like he traveled 500 miles a day or something like that.

    Keep your numbers realistic and most people won't even question it and it allows you liberties to keep your plot and storyline flowing the way you want it to.
     
  11. CDRW

    CDRW Contributor Contributor

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    That's a good point. I can't really even think of any books where it gives you enough detail in the story to actually know how far somebody has traveled, except perhaps for certain parts of lord of the rings.

    Just don't make it rediculous. I read a book a couple of years ago where some guy attacked a castle with an "army" of twelve people. And the castle had eighty foot walls. I mean really? Twelve people? Try a couple hundred at least. Eighty foot walls? Try more like thirty and you'll be getting closer to most castles that I know of.
     
  12. Ungood

    Ungood New Member

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    Dang... 80 foot walls and 12 people?

    I guess if I explained that the people were 50 foot tall giants then this would fit the sense issues.
     
  13. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    I always like my stories to have a realistic edge to them, just suits my personalitiy, really.

    I agree with what you mean Ungood. But the main theme of the story is travelling, so I'd like to try throwing in some numbers for the distances.

    Of course, if this proves to be too boring, I'll take it out.

    But I'm mainly writing this story for my own enjoyment (I've been wantign to write a good fantasy for ages) as opposed to other stuff I write which is more aimed at having people actually read it.

    So if the distances make it a little dull, but it makes it more fun/interesting for me, then I'll consider it a success. Of course, I'd like to acheive both, but you can't always have everything...

    I'm rambling a bit now, sorry. But my point, i suppose, if that even if the exact, realistic distances don't go into the story, at least I'll know they're there, as a sort of building block for the plot.
     
  14. Chef Dave

    Chef Dave New Member

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    It depends on a number of variable circumstances. What is the weather like? Hot weather will tire the horse faster than cooler weather.

    What is the terrain like? There's a huge difference between going up and down hills, across a plain, or through drifts of snow.

    Is the rider using a road? What's the road like? Muddy roads that force a horse to struggle through mire are harder to travel than paved roads.

    How fast is the horse traveling? A horse that's galloped too far could develop tendon and ligament damage. It could become dehydrated.

    How heavy is the rider? A 90 lb. teenage girl will be able to travel further than an armored knight wearing heavy plate armor.

    What's the horse's breed? Some breeds have more inherent stamina than others.

    What's the condition of the horse? Horses that have been grain fed and well rested will have more stamina than horses who have been ridden hard over a period of days.

    Related to the condition of the horse is the daily care the horse receives from his rider. Horses need to have their hooves checked periodically. Objects lodged in the hoof can damage it and affect its ability to walk. Horses also need cooling after a long ride. They may need to be walked to avoid having their muscles stiffen up. A horse can take more than an hour to cool down after a long run.

    Depending upon the temperature, as a horse cools down, it will need "rugging" i.e. initially a light blanket and then a heavy blanket to help keep it warm as fatigue and muscle stiffness set in. At this point the horse will need water and feed to replenish energy.

    The bottom line is that horses are not cars. They cannot run indefinitely. They need food, water, and rest just as you do. They also need proper care.
     
  15. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    Thanks for your help.

    I've answered some of your questions in my post on page 2.

    But as for the others:

    He's a full grown man of average build and height, and will only be wearing medium to warm clothing or perhaps leather armour.

    The horse will be well looked after as he has just been bought from a stable, so he should be in tip-top shape.

    The story starts in autumn and moves through to winter, but there shouldn't be any thick snow, just cold weather.
     
  16. Chef Dave

    Chef Dave New Member

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    This would be a long time to have a horse on the road. It is unlikely that he could ride this horse all day and every day for this length of time.

    A horse needs to eat 1.5-2% of its weight daily. That amounts to 15-20 pounds of hay, usually divided into two feedings that includes about 3 cups of grain. That comes to about 42 pounds of grain per month and 560 pounds of hay. Keep in mind that your rider not only needs to carry grain for the horse, but he'll also need supplies for himself.

    Horses may forage for grass as long as they have grain. If you've seen pictures of horse farms, you typically see horses in large pastures where they can graze. These horses are still fed with measures of grain and hay.

    To ride this far and this long, your rider would probably need to switch out horses, trading his tired one for a fresh mount. He could do this if he was traveling with a remount. The remount could also carry all of his supplies.

    The rider could also try trading horses at towns or villages.

    In terms of speed and distance, horses can gallop for only a few miles before they get tired. When they gallop, they can travel up to speeds of forty miles an hour.

    They can trot longer than they can gallop especially if the rider alternates walking with trotting.

    They can walk a lot further than they trot.

    In peak condition, a horse can walk all day with periodic breaks to rest and drink. Twenty to thirty miles a day would not be unreasonable.
     
  17. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    He's going to be stopping at towns, to pick up his trail, every few days or so. And for replenishing stocks and switching horses. So I'm not going for a pack or a remount.

    The rider is traveling across grasslands and the like, so will the horse be able to feed in the fields? Or will specific food have to be carried?
     
  18. alias

    alias New Member

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    Having completed a 150km trek in the sweltering heat of australia this year, im going to say about 2-4kms an hour depending on how tired you want to make yourself. I did 3km/h r on a good day with a 30kg pack.
     
  19. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    Thanks, that'll be really useful.

    This is on foot I'm guessing? Haven't really had distances on foot covered properly yet.

    How much training did you do for it?
     
  20. alias

    alias New Member

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    None, although i do rowing and am an avid cross country runner. I Could have walked a little faster (or even ran the 25kms a day) but we had to keep up with the slowest member of the group. Considering we were carrying the pack it'll be safe to say that 3km/hr a fair estimate for an average walking speed.

    Mind you we were trying to walk as fast as possible. Hense my estimate of 2-4kms/hr

    Glad to help.
     
  21. Chef Dave

    Chef Dave New Member

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    I answered this in the preceding post. :)

    Reference paragraphs 2 and 3.
     
  22. Leo

    Leo New Member

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    Yes, you did actually, looking back :D.

    Thanks
     

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