At first I noticed that the travel times between places seemed buggy (taking longer in one direction than the other), but testing showed it was just the factor of whether either origin or destination was serviced by a stables - making faster travel possible.

However, taking 11.5 hours to go from Markarth to Windhelm (both with stables), but 21.5 hours in the opposite direction has me totally cornfused. Anyone want to venture a guess?

I don't pay attention to travel times so I've never noticed this. Perhaps it's random?

I have not paid attention to travel times either. Does owning a horse make them shorter?

Do the different times repeat? Was it the middle of the night when you traveled (like the game has some time set aside to sleep)?

I've followed plenty characters on quests who seemed to have no idea how to reach their destination. I wouldn't be suprised that when I fast travel from say Whiterun to Riverwood, the game plots a route via Solitude

One direction is uphill? Or perhaps you decided to stop for mead somewhere? I don't know. I never paid attention. If it's dark when I get someplace means I've got to press "wait" until places open for business. Or maybe it's a good thing.

Time has no meaning in the game.

I don't know why you're cornfused.

Were you fast traveling from the game menu or by cart?

it's what is happening on the road while you travel, like the characters in the game when they encounter animals so it's basicly random, one way no trouble, the other lots of trouble

I've never checked it. I don't think it matters if you own a horse or not when fast traveling. It may be calculated on how long an NPC would take to walk between the two points, multiplied by the game's fast-clock.

The days are too short, IMO. I realize this was done to make the map feel bigger, but still the default ratio of 20:1 is really too much. I always adjust the timescale to 4, which seems tolerable.

I always chalked it up to having different available routes to get to a place, Ivarstead to Riften changes times by 4 hours for me, GOING THE SAME DIRECTION sometimes. A little bit of random makes it feel more realistic. Who hasn't had a day when the drive you make 10 times a week just took twice as long because of lights and traffic and pedestrians etc?

Didn't someone do a mod for a Beth game where you could be broken out of FT at a random location along the route by being atacked? Or am I imagining it? It would be an interesting mod though.

Untrue. Try being a vampire (particulary in Oblivion where if you fast travelled into daylight - you died.)
The times between towns were consistent then. Now it appears not.

All times were by fast travel, without horse, from the city markers and then return. Times varying by up to an hour I ignored, and even Riften - Markarth, and Whiterun - Markarth (each 11-13 hours) was not bad, but the glaring difference of 11 hours going from Markarth to Windhelm but 21 hours the other way just stands out as wrong.

And no, the horses (I wasn't using) weren't tired because I tried several times starting in each city. I only observed that having a city served by stables made some variances explainable.

And yes, in Morrowind you would randomly break out of fast travel to be accosted by bandits as part of the normal game, not a mod.

Kind of sounds like you took the scenic route one way.

Satnav drove my horse into a lake.

It might have been "mayhem" from the allstate commercials telling you to turn left when you should've went right.....so sad.