Is it safe to walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

Does the Bible actually mention Mary riding a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

• Answer:

  Mary Riding the Donkey The Bible gives very little detail on Mary & Joseph's actual trip to Bethlehem. Considering the times and the location, though, it was very likely that they would've had a donkey carrying their belongings on the trip, and Mary, who was well along in her pregnancy, would've ridden it rather than walked the entire way. In the "Infancy Gospel of James" (Protoevangellium of James), Chapter 17, are the verses, "And there was an order from the Emperor Augustus, that all in Bethlehem of Judaea should be enrolled. And Joseph said: I shall enrol my sons[....]. And he saddled the ass, and set her upon it; and his son led it, and Joseph followed." Although not in the Canon, the "Infancy Gospel of James", possibly written as early as the second century, tends to cross over between apocryphal and Canon. Many of the images it describes have been used by artists and writers through the centuries.