h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just been watching a Channel 5 (UK) TV programme re the ride from Kent to York.

Scientific studies show that this would not've been possible.

On the plus side, the horse was Arab - known for their stamina.
Turpin was said to have kept his horse cool with dilute brandy. Thermal imaging of a horse whose left side was cooled with plain water and the right side was cooled with dilute brandy, showed that the brandy-cooled side stayed cool longer than the water-cooled side. But, the thought occurred to this Researcher that Turpin would either have had to carry all this brandy (extra weight) or stop frequently.
If Turpin stopped at hostelries as frequently as suggested in the poem, 'Dick Turpin's Ride', then he would very quickly have become too inebriated to continue.
To do Kent to York in 11 hours means an average sopeed of 18 mph. Study of an Arab horse on a treadmill showed that it was comfortable at this speed (canter) for 20' after which it broke its stride. So, a horse wouldn't be able to maintain this pace for 11 hours!
So the legend of Dick Turpin's Ride is considered to be a complete fiction.

You're spoiling it for everyone.

Ah, another lovely story dashed by cold reason.

I maintain that to do so is just nasty. It's the mystery that endures, not the explanation.

Would be a problem if you follow the rubbish written in Rookwood, however the Newgate calender states that the ride to York started at 5am and was completed by 8pm the same day - a ride of 15 hours not eleven and therefore not quite so impossible. The legend lives on guys!