Strangely I was doing a little research on how far a horse can realistically tra

vel in one day and after much google-fu it seems to depend very much on the type
of horse, conditioning (i.e. is it used for long distance travel all the time,
rather than been standing in a field for months, or only used for racing, etc..)
and condition (i.e. is it well fed and watered), as well as how heavy a load an
d the terrain involved.
..anyway this is the list of distances (in miles per day) I've come up with from
a variety of sources that I shall be using personally:
On Roads / trails
Level or rolling terrain: 40
Hilly terrain: 30
Mountainous terrain: 20
Off-Road (or unkempt trails etc)
Level/rolling grasslands: 30
Hilly grasslands: 25
Level/rolling forest/thick scrub: 20
Very hilly forest/thick scrub: 15
Un-blazed Mountain passes: 10
Marshland: 10
Assumptions
An average quality horse, of a breed suitable for riding, conditioned for overla
nd travel and in good condition.
Roads and trails are in good condition and up kept by whatever local authority d
eals with them.
Weather is good to fair, and travelers are riding for around ten hours a day.
Notes
Halve these distances for a horse pulling a cart or for a very heavily laden hor
se (e.g. a fully armoured knight who insists on wearing his armour all day rathe
r than having it stowed on a second baggage horse as would be normal!).
Add half again for specially trained horses and riders who are prepared to push
hard (rangers, scouts and messangers, etc...) though do bear in mind that horses
cannot be pushed like this for more than a few days at a time. You can add a bi
t more again to this distance if the breed of horse is exceptionally suitable fo
r this sort of thing, but I d say 2 to 2.5 times the base is the absolute maximum
without some sort of magical assistance!
Poor weather such as heavy rain or wind should reduce distances by about one qua
rter, and very poor conditions like heavy snow or gale force winds, etc.. should
reduce distances by at least half if not more.
Finding a place to ford a small river or swimming your horse across a larger riv
er should knock a couple of miles off the day s journey, other unique obstacles mi
ght have a similar reduction. (as a guide remember a horse walks at around 4 mil
es per hour (compared to a human average of around 2.5 - 3mph) so if the obstacl
e takes half an hour to deal with thats a couple of miles lost.
Out of interest
The Tevis cup is a 100-mile-in-one-day competition which goes over some quite ru
gged and mountainous trail terrain in the western states of USA... but they do i
t on very special arab horses, with little or no baggage and even the winning ti
mes are usually around 17 hours!
Ok, well to weigh in in similar style to my earlier post..
Again from my reading around on the matter overland travel by foot again depends
on a number of human factors such as the condition and experience of the walker
as well as environmental and terrain considerations.
Equipment and preparedness would also have a bearing... Modern hiking boots, ult
ra-light camping equipment and freeze dried trail rations as compared to hob-nai
led roman sandals and hard tack, or even pre-historic fur wrapped feet and forag
ing as you go would all have a dramatic effect on distances covered!
But working on an earliest Roman through to a latest pre 19thC sort of period, a
nd with some other rather broad assumptions again (such as average human walking
speed of 3mph) this is the list of distances (in miles per day) that I would te
ntatively suggest:
On Roads / trails
Level or rolling terrain: 20
Hilly terrain: 14
Mountainous terrain: 9
Off-Road (or unkempt trails etc)
Level/rolling grasslands: 15
Hilly grasslands: 12
Level/rolling forest/thick scrub: 8
Very hilly forest/thick scrub: 6
Un-blazed Mountain passes: 6
Marshland: 5
Assumptions
A young to middle aged man of average height and build, in good physical conditi
on and used to walking for long distances, Equipped with good walking footwear a
nd other hiking equipment appropriate to the era.
Roads and trails are in good condition and up kept by whatever local authority d
eals with them.
Weather is good to fair, and travellers are walking for around 7-8 hours a day.
Notes
Reduce these distances by around a quarter for a heavily laden man.
Add a quarter to half again for very experienced hikers.
As with mounted travel, exceptionally experienced and/or physically capable men
might be able to do significantly more as a one off forced march, but twice the
base is probably a reasonable maximum and I would expect them to take be walking
for up to 20 hours and be utterly exhausted at the end of it!
Out of interest
Naismith's rule is a rule of thumb for planning a hiking expedition by calculating
how long it will take to walk the route, including ascents. The basic rule is:
Allow 1 hour for every 3 miles forward, plus 1 hour for every 2000 feet of ascent .
I ve read anything from 15 to 25 miles per day quoted in many places for a fully l
aden Roman Legionary, but 15 miles seems more common though with time to break c
amp and rebuild it after the days march factored in most sources reckon they wer
e only marching for a round 5 hours a day anyway. (There are some sources that s
uggestion 50 mile forced marches were possible for the Legions but many dismiss
this as an exaggeration)
And just to show how subjective and as a guide only this sort of table is:
The world record for the marathon distance of just over 26 miles is a mere 2 hou
rs and 8 minutes!
Ulysse Grant thought a forced march of 20 miles in a day was generally not a goo
d idea if troops were expected to fight at the end of it
The British SAS selection Test week concludes with Endurance , a 40 mile march across
the Brecon Beacons (very hilly / mountainous terrain, famed for its bad weather
) - completed in less than 20 hours whilst loaded in excess of fifty five pounds
of equipment, plus water, food and rifle..