As family historians, we wonder about the lived experiences of our ancestors – including the challenges they faced when travelling. When my ancestor Robert Reid moved from Longtown, in Northern Cumberland, to the London area in the mid to late 1840s, how long did it take, and what was the journey like?
I thought the University of Cambridge Travel in Times website would provide insight — it is with a certain hesitation I mention it,
According to the site’s About tab, its journey planer allows three choices:
Plan a journey around England and Wales on horseback c.1680.
Plan a journey around England and Wales by stagecoach c.1830.
Plan a journey around England and Wales by train, using a bicycle to get to the nearest train station.
(A fourth choice provides modern car-based routing, using OpenStreetMap, by way of comparison).
I found it hit or miss, often reverting to the Cambridge to London default journey rather than the one I wanted. It could be I misunderstood the procedure. It is a free site, so one can’t complain.
My query about the Longtown to London journey was informed by videos showing the evolution of the turnpike road, railway and navigable waterway networks. The availability of a train would depend on when he travelled in the later 1840s.