I suspect that a sustained overall 4mph and not stopping for eating is very far from typical and potentially misleading for the OP.
Even better, don't wear heavy clunking boots, especially on easy trails like the SDW
Hmm... I did say that I don't know Ellie, but I do know from a previous post that she's 29 and relatively fit and I said my reply would be from my own perspective (which I forgot to mention is as a 66 year old of average height). I made it clear that it was from my perspective because I'm not qualified to judge how how long it might take someone else to walk a certain distance. For instance, on a parallel thread Ellie was told, "
It would be at least a 3 hour walk from Petersfield to Meon Springs," (a distance of about 7 miles). But what might take one person more than 3 hours might take another well under 2 hours.
I had no intention of misleading Ellie and I think it would be a simple matter for anyone to calculate their own natural pace. I simply referred to my natural pace because it's the speed I find myself walking at on trails like the SDW when I'm not trying to go fast, slow or sustain it. My suggestion for Ellie is to determine her own natural pace and use it in her calculations - and make an allowance for detours, hills and other factors.
I honestly have no idea if "
not stopping for eating is very far from typical". From my own experience (which is all I can offer), taking a break achieves nothing except making it harder to get moving again. I used to stop for a sandwich and a drink, but I didn't like the feeling of lunch slopping around in my stomach for a while afterwards! My routine now is to eat little and fairly often as I go - and if it's untypical, I don't think it's unnatural.
I also had in mind that we're talking about February or March and, depending on the weather, a lunch break might perhaps not have the same appeal as it would have in the summer.
(Oh, and the boots in question were Salomon Quest 4D 3 GTX - neither heavy nor clunking!
)