As a former infantryman, I can attest to how your body can get used to walking. After doing it for a while, walking twenty-five miles in a few hours with fifty to seventy pounds on your back is not that huge a deal.
I used to go ten or twelve miles at least once a week with that much on my back and be done in two hours, so the amount of walking in the book doesn't seem preposterous at all. Rather, it seems to be only a little bit of a fast pace to keep. Not easy, but definitely do-able.
Also, keep in mind that the technology level in Professor Tolkien's writing is at a level on a par with the Middle Ages. People walked everywhere - very few rode horses (despite what Hollywood would have you believe).
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`A blunderbuss, was it?' said he, scratching his head. `I thought it was horseflies!'
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