PEDESTRIAN FEATS IN THE LAST GENERATION.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 339, 25 May 1877, Page 4

PEDESTRIAN FEATS IN THE LAST GENERATION.

In these days of long walks, it is not uninteresting to look up back records, and see if our forefathers of a hundred years ago were equal to the feats of stamina now exhibited. The ' Sporting Magazine' for the year ISGS tells us that in 1787 Mr. Foster Powell walked from Canterbury (not New Zealand) to London and back, a distance of 112 miles, in 24 hours. In 1788 the same, gentleman walked from Hyde-Park Corner to the fiftieth milestone on the Bath road and back to Hyde-Park in under 22 hours, and in the year 1790 he walked from London to York and back, 394 miles, in five days fifteen hours. In 1765, Robert Batley, when an old man, often walked to London from Norwich, a distance of 81 miles, in one day, and returned back the next. In 1740, Savager, a labourer in Herefordshire, walked 404 miles in six days, over very rough ground, and in 1791 a gentleman aged 77 walked from London to Liverpool, 202 miles, in four days. When we remember that all these feats were performed out of doors on the turnpike road, up h3l and down dale, and with the roads themselves in some parts in a very rough state, we can but admit that they compare favourably with anyt'aing done lately under cover and on a level and beautifully prepared track.