Does anyone have a good - nay, GREAT - formula for calculating travel times in a historical (ie, non-motorized) setting? I need to calculate days it would take to walk across a continent about the size of Australia. The terrain would vary from barren (desert) to timber forests, to steep high mountains. The characters will be variously walking and riding a horse. I can't seem to get my co-author to agree with me on this. I need help!
Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :
The average walking speed for people, unburdened, is I think 3mph. That said, burdened with an 90lb pack, I've personally done 6mph -- but it was moving very fast.
Weather will be a factor. As will health -- blisters, colds, etc. And you'll have to stop every so often to rest horses, feed/eat, pee, and sleep.
Posted by MaryRobinette (Member # 1680) on :
It takes me twenty minutes to walk a half mile over variable terrain.
I would say, that on average you would make about 1.5 miles per hour. This would give you time to forage, hunt and overcome difficulties as you went. This is based in part on my time spent hiking the jungles in Panama, whilst foraging for food and dodging the instructors who were playing VC. So, it might be a good formula for heavily vegetated, rough terrain. We also went horsepacking quite a bit, and in that terrain, the rate was about the same.
Posted by hoptoad (Member # 2145) on :
Why would anyone walk across a continent like Australia. I don't think anyone has ever done the whole trip.
Edward John Eyre tried. Sir John Forrest rried he was gone about 115 days, (he went half-way and turned back, so I reckon that would be a fair estimate.
Posted by TaShaJaRo (Member # 2354) on :
There is a book that answers questions like this that has been a great help to me. It's a Writer's Digest book and is called The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy. I would not say that it is "complete" but it does give a lot of answers to frequently asked questions and common misconceptions.
This book says that the average horse travels 25-30 miles a day at a trot with a rider.
Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :
Wow! So many variables!
But you're smart enough to shift things pertinent to your needs.
In the settlement days of the old west, a wagon train would average 15 to 16 miles a day--slow mainly because the favorite draft animal was oxen. Horses were faster but not as sturdy. Tortoise vs. the Hare. A troop of foot soldiers could do 20 to 25. Mounted Cavalry, like has been said before, 25 to 30.
But in desperate circumstances the limits can be pushed--at the expense of men and horses.
I've read of journeys in which horses were pushed to do 60 miles a day or more. But they're completely spent within a week or so. Good for nothing buy Coyote fodder. I've also heard of men dying from desperate hard rides on a horse. Same goes for men. You push them too hard they wear out. No one can run a marathon every day--they simply can't ingest enough calories to meet the needs of their bodies.
And as far as calculating distances--I'm not certain, but I could guess that you could reasonably add about 1/3 of the linear distance to compensate for the inevitable bends in the trail. It's 300 miles as the crow flies, but 400 by road.
[This message has been edited by djvdakota (edited March 24, 2005).]
Posted by benskia (Member # 2422) on :
/quote Edward John Eyre tried. Sir John Forrest rried he was gone about 115 days, (he went half-way and turned back, so I reckon that would be a fair estimate. /quote
lol. If he got half way before turning back. He may has well have walked the other half.
Posted by goatboy (Member # 2062) on :
Dakota and I are real close on our estimates, must have read the same source. I think I read somewhere that a man on horse could do 30 miles average and a wagon 12 to 15. This is a day in and day out pace. Speed the pace up and you run the risk of wearing out the participants or of injury.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
As some people have mentioned, it makes a big difference what kind of terrain you're talking about, whether the travelers are well-provisioned or must forage, whether there are enemies to engage or avoid, overall fitness and experience of the travelers...the list goes on and on.
For instance, if you're being reprovisioned and remounted every twenty or thirty miles, with good horses and lithe, experienced riders, you could be going a hundred miles or more every day long enough to cross a major continent (particularly if it was important enough to kill a few mounts doing it). Systems like that have existed since prehistory, by the way. But what if the terrain (or climate) isn't suitable for horses? What if there aren't reprovisioning points at optimal intervels? What if you have babies in tow? What about altitude?
There is no formula. What you need to do at this point is decide whether you can really work with this co-author. Of course, consulting good resources isn't a bad idea, more writers should do it. But co-writing is hard any way you look at it.