To walk one hundred miles within twenty-four hours may be considered an extraordinary exertion; but that distance has been performed in that time by several people: and a great deal more has been accomplished by some of our most celebrated pedestrians.
Mr. Oliver, in July 1811, walked one hundred miles in twenty-three hours and fifty minutes. He was much fatigued, but that he was not entirely exhausted, was apparent from his going the last ten miles in two hours.—Mr. Edward Millen, in July the previous year, accomplished the same distance in twenty-three hours and twenty-five minutes.—But we shall have occasion afterwards to record more difficult performances than these; and, in the meantime, shall take notice of the feats of such pedestrians as have evinced uncommon strength and agility, and who have been distinguished by walking a long distance in a short time.
In September this year (1812), Jonathan Waring, a Lancashire pedestrian, performed one hundred and thirty-six miles in thirty-four hours, for a wager of one hundred guineas. He started from London to go to Northampton, and return. He went the first fifty-five miles in twelve hours, and half the distance in fourteen hours and a half. After resting an hour and a half, he started on his return, and accomplished the whole distance in three minutes less than the time allowed. He was excessively fatigued.
But Glanville, a Shropshire man, accomplished a more extraordinary performance in the year 1806. He walked one hundred and forty-two miles on the Bath road in twenty-nine hours and three-quarters. He started from the 14th mile-stone to go to the 85th, and back, at seven in the morning, on the 26th of December, and arrived at his journey’s end next day, at a quarter before one o’clock in the afternoon. He went off at the rate of six miles an hour, and reached Twyford at five minutes past ten, where he took a basin of soup. He refreshed again at Marlborough, and arrived at the 85th mile-stone at ten minutes past eight in the evening. This part of his journey was performed at the average rate of nearly five miles and a half an hour. He returned a few miles on his way back, and refreshed himself on a bed for an hour and a half, and reached Reading at a quarter past six in the morning of the 27th. He had now twenty-five miles to go in five hours and three-quarters, and appeared to be much fatigued. After remaining twenty minutes, he renewed his task, and arrived at his journey’s end at a quarter before one o’clock—winning, with great difficulty, by a quarter of an hour.
This performance is the most extraordinary upon record, and bets were seven to four, and two to one against him; but his strength and perseverance overcame every difficulty, and thus enabled him to accomplish the astonishing exploit.
On Friday, the 20th July 1804, John Bell, Esq. engaged to walk from Brook Green to Hammersmith—a distance of fifty-eight miles—in fourteen hours, for a bet of two hundred guineas; which he performed, with apparent ease, in thirteen hours, and forty-five seconds.—A distance of sixty miles was performed on the 18th of September, the same year, by a butcher of Whitechapel, in eleven hours and a quarter, for a bet of seventeen guineas.
On the 14th of August 1807, a distance of sixty-nine miles was performed near Lyndhurst, in twelve hours, by Wall, a hawker, on the Bath road. He was matched against Campbell of Dowton, Wilts, a man of local notoriety. The pedestrians started about four miles from Christ Church, at eleven o’clock, morning. By four, Wall had gone thirty-five miles. He was at the same time passed by Campbell; but having rested for half an hour, he overtook his opponent by nine o’clock. A severe struggle now ensued, and they kept together until ten; when Wall made an extraordinary push, and went nearly eight miles in the last hour, beating his adversary by a mile and a half. In this match, the winner walked five miles and three-quarters per hour on the average, including the time he refreshed, which, allowing for the distance, must be considered a very extraordinary effort.
In August 1809, Captain Walsham, of the Worcestershire regiment of militia, walked the distance of sixty miles in twelve hours, with ease; and afterwards rode thirty miles on two curricle horses, in two successive hours, for a wager of one hundred and twenty guineas.
Mr. Hopper of Canterbury, walked sixty-three miles in eleven hours and thirty-nine minutes. He started from the turnpike on St. Martin’s Hill, and at the end of the first hour he had gone seven and a half miles: second hour, eleven miles, including stoppage for breakfast: third hour, and five minutes, twenty miles: fourth hour, twenty-six miles: fifth hour, thirty-four miles: sixth hour, including dinner, thirty-five miles: seventh hour, forty-one miles: eighth hour, forty-five miles: ninth hour, fifty-one miles: tenth hour, fifty-five miles: eleventh hour, sixty miles: and at thirty-eight and three-fourth minutes past the eleventh hour, he finished sixty-three miles, apparently much fatigued.
A distance of fifty miles was performed in nine hours, on the 28th of March 1811, by Clough, a groom, on the Bath road, for a wager of fifty guineas. He regularly walked six miles an hour for the first five hours; and his average rate of travelling was five miles, one half, and one ninth part of a mile, per hour.—Eighty miles, at two starts, were performed by Shoreham, a publican, on the 22d of April the same year. He started from Paddington to go to Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, and to return. He went forty miles in six hours and a half, and after resting three hours, he accomplished the other forty miles in six hours and forty minutes, having completed the distance in thirteen hours and ten minutes, which was at the rate of more than six miles per hour.