LA is the same thing as Mordor
About half as long as the Pacific Crest Trail.
Fewer wargs on the PCT, though.
I have always thought that, as iconic as the Lord of the Rings map is, it is really bad at conveying the scale.
I tended to visualize the Shire as in northwestern Europe, Minas Tirith as the equivalent of Byzantium, and Orodruin as in eastern Anatolia or the Caucasus. And Middle Earth is smaller than that.
In our world, it’s about 2,100 English miles, from Winchester to Elburz.
In their world, it’s about 1,000 miles, as the craban flies, from the Shire to Orodruin.
And based on Fonstad’s estimates of daily travel distances, Tolkien doesn’t seem to use some of the longer miles.
Oblig.:
If only Dallas happened to be where the map shows it.
FTFY…
Is there a trail from Dallas to LA?
For the lazy, since it’s a three-click hike, here’s the smaller-countries comparison (England to Serbia).
That’s a lot of walking. Too bad they didn’t have bicycles for an easier and more pleasant sightseeing trip. I always figured the hobbits were the type to enjoy a bit of leisurely cycle touring with frequent picnic stops. Discounting the extra swampy, everesty and volcano-wastelandy bits, of course, but that’s going to be unpleasant anyhow.
And the Shire is almost exactly the size of Denmark, which is actually quite respectable by pre-modern standards.
Exactly. The starting point is closer to Austin.
The sources article says “Same as walking from LA to Austin, Texas.”
I’d like to see more of the workings. They travelled a very wiggly route. The route from Hobbiton to Bree contained some big diversions(sorry plot spoiler to those who have only seen the film ;-)). Also, it doesn’t include the route home or Hobbiton to the Grey Havens.
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