Is it possible to skip battles when travelling in Puzzle Quest 1?

I've been playing Puzzle Quest 1 for a while now but I noticed that random battles along the road take a lot of time while I would like to continue just playing my quests. Is there a way to skip them? I have already captured many of them but they keep popping around.

Solution 1:

If you train your mount to high levels, it will allow you to evade the enemies on your way. Precisely what level is required depends on the encounter monster.

I've read a bit online and it seems that by level 30-35ish you can evade almost all enemies this way, save for the few strongest types.

Solution 2:

I found that the Fast Flying mount (Giant Eagle?) was really good at avoiding encounters.