Travels in England in 1782

“My host at Richmond ... could not sufficiently express his surprise that I intended to venture to walk as far as Oxford, and still farther ... When I was on the other side of the water, I came to a house and asked a man who was standing at the door if I was on the right road to Oxford. "Yes," he said, "but you want a carriage to carry you tither". When I answered him that I intended walking it, he looked at me significantly, shook his head, and went into the house again. I was not on the road to Oxford. It was a charming fine broad road, and I met on it carriages without number ... The fine green hedges, which boarder roads in England, contribute greatly to render them pleasant. This was the case in the road I now travelled ... I sat down in the shade under one of these hedges and read Milton. But this relief was soon rendered disagreeable to me, for those who road or drove past me, stared at me with astonishment, and made many significant gestures as if they thought my head deranged ... When I again walked, many of the coachmen who drove by called out to me, ever and anon, and asked if I would not ride on the outside ... a farmer on horseback ... said, and seemingly with an air of pity for me, " 'Tis warm walking, sir;" and when I passed thorugh a village, every old woman testified her pity ... The short English miles are delightful for walking. You are always pleased to find, every now and then, in how short a time you have walked a mile, though, no doubt, a mile is everywhere a mile, I walk but a moderate pace, and can accomplish four English miles in an hour””

— Karl Philipp Moritz