[52]  The distance between Wapping and Redriff (Rotherhithe) is just 5 miles (or 8 Km.) with the Thames running in between.

 

      But in the 17th Century Mary would have to be a rich woman to pay for a seat in a stagecoach, and travel in this heavy and cumbersome carriage, often without any form of springs, squeezed next to seven more passengers, for hours.

 

      The speed, if one can call it so, was 4 miles per hour, and there were plenty of risks of Highwaymen.

 

      Second-class travellers would sit in a large open basket attached to the back and cheaper seats were also available, on the roof with the luggage, where you’d have to hang on to a hand rail to prevent from slithering off.

 

      And yes, in the city of London there were traffic jams, back then, too.