Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
The highest speed one can walk is based purely on leg length and harmonics.
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Fitness matters, and motivation, particularly since the OP mentions sustaining the rate for 6-8 hours.
I do about 5.5 km/h, dropping to 5 or less when I'm feeling lazy or not being purposeful about it. I could do "6 km in a hour, if I hurried a bit", but it's a bit faster than my natural pace. I doubt I could do 40 km in 8 hours under any but the most vital circumstances.
Vegetius gives 20 miles in five "summer hours" for the Roman common military step, and 24 miles in five hours for the "full" step. (That's a Roman mile, of course.)
The modern US "quick march" drill is a 30-inch step, 120 per minute, which works out to a bit under 5.5 km/h. It's for formal drill these days, of course, but inherited from times when the drilling was for actual travel.
There's any amount of debate of marching rules in the history of the GURPS forum.