WI the Vikings Don't Use Boats?

[8Deer]

This is kind of a weird idea that just came to me. I've read that the Viking age was caused by the population of Scandinavia growing too large for the climate and geography of the area. Therefore, Viking men took to the sea to settle elswhere or bring wealth back to their homes. But WI instead of taking a sea route, they went the way that earlier Germanic peoples did: south into Germany, the Baltic countries, etc..

The POD required for this would probably be that Viking boat technology doesn't develop as quickly. So what would the effects be of the Vikings going south by land rather than, well every direction really, by sea?

 

[Coalition]

They'd be limited to walking or riding animals. This puts them in a mobile hunter/gatherer mode until they arrive at a decent location to settle down. Ships allowed them to use the cheaper transportation capacity from floating and wind power (plus rowing when necessary), plus nets if there are fish nearby. (Seriously, sea travel is cheap compared to walking, riding, or cart.)

So you'd have slower expansion, and it would be more along the lines of colonization behind attackers, rather than raiders. The fun part is when one wave of Viking settlers has established themselves, and the next wave arrives at their village. They might turn inwards, fighting each other, giving the European nations a better advantage.

Didn't that happen in France, where the King of France got tired of the raids, so he let the Vikings settle on the northern part, so the Vikings got to deal with their distant cousins?

 

[Rex Romanum]

So...this will butterflied away the Normans and Rus', right?
Then there will be no Britain and Russia as we know them...