That makes sense. Thanks.

The tv show compresses every thing and the first season north action was an hour from winterfell
I think in the books he slipped in by sea off the west coast maybe with some wildlings or other deserters, they sneak in that way to escape or to raid as far as Bear island, or the towns on the Northwest coast and also escape into the Wild Woods on the north west coast of the North and mix in with their wild people.
Osha and her group snuck in that way and were actually caught in the wild wood a week or more north of Winterfell also the same place they found the dire wolves

There are secret passages like the one Sam and Gilly used when they met Bran