“Not long now,” Justin said. (January 29, 1814)

While clearing my desk I found a note with contradictory information about travel times, as well as this portrait of Pepe. Well, a postcard I bought some years ago at Villa Gyllenberg in Helsinki, Finland. The picture dates from 1880, by which time Pepe would be a very old man, and its title means "gipsy", which Pepe is not, but hey, let's not take historical exactitude too far!

Helene Schjerfbeck, Zigenare

You may not have noticed – I hope you haven't – but you're not actually told how long "not long" is. That's because I couldn't work out how long the journey from Portsmouth (where they landed) to London would take them.

There’s a lot to take into account apart from average figures. Justin and Pepe have just spent several weeks riding about Navarra and the side valleys of the Pyrenees. Does that mean they’re exhausted, or are they fit and indefatigable? Their journey through northern Spain was fraught with danger and anxiety. Now that they’ve left all that behind them, are they feeling light-hearted, or completely drained? Heavy snowfall had made the roads in England impassable for carriages, but Justin and Pepe are on horseback, and used to adverse conditions. They’re carrying despatches, so would try to get to London as fast as possible. Hardly anyone would be travelling, so they might be able to get good horses at the posting houses, demand being low.

The information on that note came from the old Georgette Heyer discussion group; meanwhile Nancy has set up a useful website for that kind of question. I've lost touch with Miranda – if you haven't, please give her my warm regards.

Jude Knight wrote eloquently about the angst that characters’ travels can cause a novelist: 

https://judeknightauthor.com/2015/01/03/travel-times-the-growth-of-london-and-other-random-thoughts/

As always, the public library was immensely helpful. Here I found Philip S. Bagwell's The Transport Revolution from 1770 (1974). He informs us that up to the 1820s, it was quickest to travel on horseback (p. 42f). The same page features a map illustrating coach journey times from London in 1770. Dorian Gerhold's Road Transport in the Horse-Drawn Era (1996) also includes a number of maps and other illustrations.