What's faster by way of travel

[King Raven Stark]

In a medieval society is it faster to travel to the northern part of country by sea or horse?
Answers, facts, opinions please and thank you

 

[TGNewman]

Sea, but you haven't provided much information on sea currents, road conditions, and weather etc, so i cannot provide a very accurate answer.

Apperating is of course the fastest

 

[King Raven Stark]

The island my charactor is sailing from is about 100 miles south of the mainland and the mainland is about as large as england

 

[SlimShady]

Sea would probably still be faster IMO.

 

[gavintonks]

A horse can do about 30k in a day, mostly walk a bit of canter, a large horse with a man and his Armour would probably be less.The movies with people galloping all over is not real. A horse on a cross county must be around 3.5km an hour and that's very fit and the rider and tack is about 70k, having 100k of metal plus a 80k of person a large horse would canter about 100m. You would need to look at the different type of horses as horses were bred for riding, carriage pack and war. Most of the fast moving by horseback had fresh horses every 20k and would swap the horses at the stations

 

[Saigonnus]

It would really be dependant upon the distance you need to cover and the geographic realities of the world. I would think if your culture is on an island, they'd likely be very adept at using the waterways to cover long distances since typically most medieval cities were close to water by necessity and it provided not only livelihood for people in the city, but an easy way of moving trade around. Over short distances where it isn't viable to travel by water, a horse is faster, or if the distance you have to travel along the shoreline is a huge distance compared to a relative straight line a horse could canter.

 

[King Raven Stark]

Yea maybe because i'm doing someting whereas the people from the island are going to invade the northern part of the mainland but one of the islanders is going to send someone to warn the northerners so its like a race you know - get there first to warn them so the north can prepare

 

[Justme]

That would depend on the distance travelled and the area of the ocean traveled. Heck, there are places in this world that the seas are extremely hazardous and also you have to put in the chances of the wind dieing down and leaving you to use oars. One thing you really have to look at, especially in the Northern regions is ice flow.

 

[King Raven Stark]

Ok i forgot the whole mainland and the islands are caught up in a thunderstorm/rainstorm, a heavy one too. thanks

 

[Justme]

Well, I was going to suggest, maybe the informant might have a group of bloodthirsty bounty hunters chase after him, but the storms would really halt sail movement. What is the temperature of the region at the time of the supposed race? If it was cold enough the presence of ice could allow a solid footing on which to have such a race and you could also add Polar bears. Winter Wolves and Sabre-Tooths into the mix. If a blizzard, ice storm or even typhoon grade driving rain was added, that could give it the element of surprise in any engagements.

 

[King Raven Stark]

yo you are goood thanks that does add some flavor thanks alot

 

[SeverinR]

Most roads don't follow along the shore line, so there is winding bends and turns, while the sea is more direct.
You said the island is having a mjor storm, the sea might be too rough to safely travel.

In my book, the road travel would take a week, the sea took a day and a half. The terrain was lots of hills, and the roads veered off to towns and cities rather then making a straight shot to the destination.

path, trail, old road, well maintained road. Depending on the condition of the "road", this would change the amount of time it takes to travel. If you have to dodge large holes in a road, backtrack because you lost the "trail", it will tire out the horse faster, thus taking longer to make the same distance. Decent roads took alot of work, which means alot of cost.

The lay of the sea would also affect the time. If they have to negotiate around shallows, watch for pirates, or have no way to map where they are, they might have to take more time to move.
If they have to remain in sight of land to keep from getting lost, they might have to deal with shallow areas. But if they can map with the stars they simply go away from land enough not to deal with this.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

Isn't this like taking a car vs. taking a plane?

To travel a short distance, a horse/car is much faster because you may need to travel a certain distance to and from (air)ports. It takes time for a boat/plane to depart, more people to operate a boat/plane, and more money. With enough people, there's a point where several horses/cars is more expensive than travel by boat(s)/plane(s).


Let's do something more apples-to-apples...

Regarding two locations close to ports and with roads reasonably close to the coastline, compare that to driving from Massachusetts to another state:

• I'd drive to Maine even if Ogunquit had an airport.
• New York is faster by plane, but the hassle and expense don't justify the few hours I save.
• Washington is up in the air, but I'm fine with driving there even though it doubles my travel time. 5 hours? 10 hours? Either way I lost a day.
• I'd definitely fly to Florida. It's a 24 hour drive, so driving vs. flying is one day vs. 2 or 3 by car.
  (My uncle did it in one, but even he admitted that was nuts--especially since he was an airline pilot at the time! It think he bought a bike in Florida. So, yes, he drove for an entrie day on a motorcycle without tipping over from sleepiness.)

I personally don't trust myself to calculate the speed of a horse over varying terrains, or travel time by sea factoring in preparation. I would do "fuzzy math" of how long travel takes, then consider stuff like, "Would I rather be on a boat for 3 days or a horse for 4?" Or maybe the boat is slower but safer.

Just in case, I never show a map to the reader and, so far, I've only used boats to go to an islands. Horses don't swim very fast.