"In 1891 Sylvain Dornon, a Frenchman, walked from Paris to Moscow in 58 days." On stilts!
"According to the Scientific American, the Mr. Dornon was from a region of France called Landes, which was desribed as an extremely poor region inhabited mostly by shepherds. The roads were non-existent and the ground was marshy and uneven, so the people of Landes developed a unique mode of transportation to allow them to get over the rough ground: they walked on stilts everywhere! Apparently this system of locomotion was so effective that men on stilts could keep up with horses at full trot."
I love the idea of being able to travel fast on foot by such a simple means. Sadly I can't even balance on one leg when standing in my lounge room, let alone on stilts, so it's not likely.
article from "The Illustrated Past" on the Landes stilt walkers
article from "Lous Crabots de Semisens" about them
and another one, including a pic of how you sit down when on stilts
