One last note - Assuming the film's opening scenes took place on/around April 25-26 (though there's no evidence of any attempt to maintain the established timeline of events, but just for the sake of speculation), then Bilbo's plans were likely interrupted. In the film, we only saw him visit the market, fearful of bumping into Gandalf again, before the dwarves' arrival that evening and his spontaneous departure in the company of Thorin Oakenshield the next morning. Hopefully Bilbo's input was not missed at the erosion meeting in Michel Delving!
According to the map of the Shire that I have framed above me right now, the distance from Bag End to Michel Delving is about 17 leagues (by road) or approximately 48 miles. That comes to a 2-day journey on foot--3 days if Bilbo took his time! Mister Baggins would have needed to leave Bag End no later than 24 April in order to keep his appointment.
For a slightly different perspective, I found this chart for Travel Times in Middle-earth:
https://www.beckyburkheart.com/...eltimesinmiddleearth.
It suggests a somewhat longer distance of approximately 65 miles (as opposed to 45 miles) from Hobbiton to Michel Delving. The scale on my map (from Free League's
The One Ring Roleplaying Game) might be off.
“Hell hath no fury like that of the uninvolved.” - Tony Isabella
(This post was edited by Otaku-sempai on Oct 12 2024, 11:31am)
