A Long Way.

[BenRalph]

  Depends which bit of Germany.

Magdeburg.

[Maiden Stone]

"His future wife was born 100 miles away"

One hundred miles!!  He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American.  People walked to California, for goodness sake.

Yes but isn’t the UK only about 300 miles at its widest point? Considering most American states are bigger than Britain as a whole, I don’t really see how that’s “laughable”? They were only answering the question 

The longest distance on mainland Britain is the famous Land's End to John O'Groats. Approximately 600 miles as the crow flies but the crow (or seagull) would have to fly over the sea for parts of the journey. Approximately 830 miles by road.
Land's End to the Shetland Isles is around 900 miles.
Zetlander's opening post ended "What is the longest distances between birthplaces of couples in your family tree not including marriages abroad?" I included an Irish ancestor in my reply since  England didn't count as "abroad", it was just the biggest of the islands to the east. 

[coombs]

"His future wife was born 100 miles away"

One hundred miles!!  He could have walked 100 miles in four days. Sorry, but that seems just laughable to an American.  People walked to California, for goodness sake.

Yes but isn’t the UK only about 300 miles at its widest point? Considering most American states are bigger than Britain as a whole, I don’t really see how that’s “laughable”? They were only answering the question 

Thank you. In England, in the 1840s being 100 miles apart is a huge distance going by the size the country is. No part of the UK is more than 74 miles from the coast. Also I think until about 1800ish, most big trips across the UK (say from Newcastle to London) were done by sea. My ancestor was a mayor of King's Lynn and had property and trade in London, he flitted between the two. He was a merchant so I think his journeys to and from London to Kings Lynn were done by sea.

[pharmaT]

Within the UK, 425 the most I think.  Born in Ayrshire, married a local girl in Slough. I also have a couple with distances of about 250miles.  One born Rothiemurchus, married a local girl in Newcastle and another born Romsey married a local guy in Liverpool.   

If we take those born abroad I also have a man born in India to British parents going on to marry a German girl in Argentina.

[Erato]

"100 miles apart is a huge distance"

Okay, whatever.  In about 1849, my gg-grandfather walked 40 miles from his homestead in  Moundville down to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, purchased a 50 lb sack of flour, and walked 40 miles back carrying the flour.  In about 1853, my g-grandfather walked [and probably hitch hiked] the 500 miles from northeastern Ohio to central Wisconsin.  The roads they traveled on were probably worse than the average road in England. So a foot loose youth going 100 miles in search of work or adventure doesn't seem that odd to me. People did walk in those days.

[DianaCanada]

I think we can agree that concepts of distance and climate can be formed by where we grew up.  I remember English relatives being amazed by what we considered “not far away” - possibly a couple of hours drive.
I do remember reading a Scotland Yard detective series by Charles Todd, American son and mother author, but set in England, just after WW1 and how the characters managed to zip all over the country in an hour or two - doubt very much the roads, cars, or gasoline availability would have existed to make that possible.

[YorkshireBorn]

In 1924, my grandfather and his brother walked from Dudley, Staffordshire to Royston in Yorkshire - about 115 miles. Apparently lots of miners moved about this way in search of work after the First World War, both had served from 1914 and it was hardly the home for heroes they were promised  .  He met and wed my grandmother there, thankfully.

[Guy Etchells]

Thank you. In England, in the 1840s being 100 miles apart is a huge distance going by the size the country is. No part of the UK is more than 74 miles from the coast. Also I think until about 1800ish, most big trips across the UK (say from Newcastle to London) were done by sea. My ancestor was a mayor of King's Lynn and had property and trade in London, he flitted between the two. He was a merchant so I think his journeys to and from London to Kings Lynn were done by sea.

I would suggest your view of how journeys to London were made was clouded by your family living on the east coast near ports.
If they had lived further inland they would probably have travelled south by road rather then east to the coast then south. There were good stagecoach services during the 17th & 18th centuries and by the 19th century circa 1830 the railways were taking over from the stagecoach. In addition carriers plied their trade between most towns providing transport, albeit slow transport between towns.
Cheers
Guy

[BenRalph]

From reading this I've just been reminded that my great granddad would walk from Beeston to Keighley to see my great grandma when they were dating. According to Google, that would take 6 hours.