Thank you to everybody who provided feedback. Lots of useful stuff and some great websites and resources in the comments. I’m going to post some of the links further down.
I’ve tweaked the numbers in various directions. One issue is that modern figures are often for races and endurance events, which helps with the extreme values but is not so handy for the left hand side of the table. I also want to keep figures relatively conservative and imagine some degree of having to carry some provisions and face some obstacles without quantifying that. ‘Day’ shouldn’t be taken literally – it’s not 24 hours and will match the nature of the travel. A tough pace will need longer rest and recovery
As people point out, fitness and travel conditions make a big difference. However, I’m after a sense of scale as well as suggesting ranges. I also want the figures towards the left to be sustainable, i.e. you could keep this up for a Lord of the Rings scale quest.
Here’s a revised set of figures. I’ve added a ‘heroic’ level for where a supremely fit person pushes themselves to an extreme for a one off feat (or if it is a ship etc. perfect conditions and special circumstances). I also add a fantasy deer mount and an elephant.
Changes and comments still welcome but be mindful of the parameters. After rules of thumb, e.g. if you can easily do better than 40 km in a day walking then you are closer to the ‘Marching’ value but the 40 km figure is still probably right for a sustainable figure.
|
| Saunter with breaks and distractions | Non-distracted but not gruelling | Marching/swift | Extreme | Heroic-Epic |
| Walking | 10 km/6 miles | 40 km/25 miles | 60 km/37 miles | 100 km/62 miles | 200 km/124 miles |
| Walking at altitude in mountains | 5 km/3 miles | 10 km/6 miles | 20 km/12 miles | 40 km/25 miles | 80 km/50 miles |
| Bicycle (good roads) | 60 km/37 miles | 100 km/62 miles | 180 km/112 miles | 350 km/218 miles | 800 km/497 miles |
| Bicycle (rougher roads) | 15 km/9 miles | 30 km/19 miles | 50 km/31 miles | 150 km/93 miles | 400 km/249 miles |
| Horse – single | 30 km/19 miles | 60 km/37 miles | 100 km/62 miles | 120 km/75 miles | 300 km/186 miles |
| Small company on horses | 20 km/12 miles | 50 km/31 miles | 70 km/44 miles | 100 km/62 miles | 30 km/19 miles |
| Large group with horses and wagons | 10 km/6 miles | 30 km/19 miles | 40 km/25 miles | 50 km/31 miles | 60 km/37 miles |
| Large sailing ship | 100 km/62 miles | 250 km/155 miles | 370 km/230 miles | 500 km/311 miles | 700 km/435 miles |
| Ox cart | 5 km/3 miles | 10 km/6 miles | 12 km/7 miles | 15 km/9 miles | 16 km/10 miles |
| Coach (with regular horse changes) | 40 km/25 miles | 60 km/37 miles | 80 km/50 miles | 100 km/62 miles | 150 km/93 miles |
| Train (Victorian – variable time spent on train) | 200 km/124 miles | 600 km/373 miles | 1,000 km/622 miles | 1,500 km/932 miles | 2,000 km/1,243 miles |
| Imaginary deer | 10 km/6 miles | 30 km/19 miles | 50 km/31 miles | 80 km/50 miles | 100 km/62 miles |
| Elephant | 10 km/6 miles | 25 km/16 miles | 70 km/44 miles | 125 km/78 miles | 150 km/93 miles |
Some links and resources from the comments of the first post.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_march Military training with full packs
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naismith%27s_rule Naismith’s rule for estimating travel times over hills and mountains.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Karnazes Some extreme running
- https://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=19730 A forum thread from 2006 discussing a similar question. Includes discussion of terrain.
- https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/6411/possible-distance-travelled-by-horse-over-6-weeks Another forum thread on the topic.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horses_in_the_Middle_Ages Horses in the Middle Ages answers a lot of questions about norms of horse travel.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_military_tactics_and_organization Some info on how far the Mongol mounted armies could travel.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express The Pony Express. Horse travel times get much better if there is a system for changing horses. Riding the same horse reduces the time considerably.
- http://railroads.unl.edu/documents/view_document.php?id=rail.str.0241 Some US rates of travel pre- and post railways
- https://imgur.com/lBHNtcj An ‘isochronic’ map of far you could travel from London in 19th century
- https://www.sfwa.org/2019/08/military-logistics-for-fantasy-writers/ General advice on planning a fictional campaign
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_to_the_North Steam train records
- https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10084883-writing-horses A book full of advice about writing horses.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-distance_cycling People with bikes, lots of dedication and too much time on their hands.
- https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/reindeer Reindeer travel long distances. You can’t ride one in real life but that’s a different issue.
- http://orbis.stanford.edu/ This site is amazing. It calculates travel times using different forms of transport between towns in the Roman Empire at it’s height. Will adjust for the seasons and will give you costs!
- https://www.quora.com/How-long-would-it-take-to-go-150-miles-in-the-horse-and-buggy-days
- https://www.quora.com/From-Cornwall-England-to-London-England-how-long-would-it-take-a-horse-drawn-carriage-to-go-and-how-many-changes-of-horses-would-their-be-along-the-way
Camestros Felapton 
8 responses to “A Day’s Travel: Part 2”
I took a look at our schedule for how we walked when climbing the Kilimanjaro. As an example, during day four, we walked 14 km in maybe 7 hours at an altitude between 3500 to 4200 meter. This was not gruelling in any way, it was a slow and easy pace and I could do it even when new to the altitude and out of a two month period in hospital bed only three months before. So I’d adjust that value to 15 km.
I’d say that that row is a bit hard to say anything about otherwise. Everything is about if you stay at the same level or are repeatedly changing altitude. Last night was extreme for us at 15 km, but that included 1.2 km upwards and 2 km downwards and took 16 hours – at least. And then I had skipped the last hundred meters which took people 1-2 hours at 6 km altitude.
To make that row of any use, I think you’d have to specify where you set the limit for high altitude and how much of steep walks you include.
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I should add a note to it. If you are ascending then the amount you are carrying is going to have a bigger impact than on the flat as well.
I think for drawing a fantasy map, it’s more of a question of ‘how many days to cross these mountains’ which can be almost any value depending on route & conditions
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The sailing figures are still too large on the right side. You’re not going to get a large ship to do much more than about 200 nautical miles per day on just wind power and even that’s in the extreme category, full gale for 24 hours type of conditions.
Most of the extreme sailing distances are small, purpose-built racing vessels with Bermuda rig which large ships are not.
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Ok – those were wild guesses
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My push speed, walking is 4mph. I can keep it up for 4 hour stretches. I haven’t, recently seen how far I can get in a 24hr period, but I have done a 20 mie day, not long ago. (52 yo–I’m modestly proud of my endurance.)
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[…] thing that became rapidly obvious looking at a day’s travel time is just how good bicycles are. It ran against my assumptions about horses being an obviously […]
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Is there some reason you’re ignoring air travel in these? Balloons would be very feasible in a fantasy setting. Also airships. Can any sensible estimate of the speed of travel by dragon back be made (I wonder if anyone has ever worked out how fast those giant pterodactyls were)?
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I just didn’t think of it!
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