The Editor will be pleased to answer any question on the subject. Our maps ind tours contain much valuable data kindly supplied from the official maps and road-books of the League of American Wheelmen. Recognizing the value of the work being done by the L. A. W., the Editor will be pleased to furnish subscribers with membership blanks and information so far as possible.
So many inquiries have been received of late asking information regarding bicycling in Europe, that it will prove more satisfactory to answer these in a general way in this Department than to attempt to give specific replies to each writer. The usual question which presents itself is the one of expense. How cheaply can a person make a trip from New York to England by steamer, ride through England for a month, and return? Many a boy and girl has the time in school or college vacation to take this trip if it could be done at a reasonable figure. Crossing the ocean is now a much cheaper, quicker, and easier matter than it used to be. There are very comfortable cattle-steamers leaving New York for London which make the trip in ten or twelve days, and which carry perhaps twenty-five passengers. The accommodations are very good, and it is a perfectly feasible method of crossing the ocean. The fare on these steamers, first-class, ranges from $40 up. On the regular passenger steamers it is quite proper, and does not involve a loss of dignity, for school-boys or college men to cross second-class, which ranges from $35 up. You can see, then, that so far as going from America to England is concerned not much expense is involved; $60 to $70 will procure the round-trip passage, which will occupy about sixteen to twenty days. On the other side the travelling expenses with a wheel may be made almost anything the individual chooses to make them. One wheelman will ride from city to city, stopping at large hotels in each city, spending several days there, and going to theatres and places of amusement. Another will stop at the inns through the midland counties of England, ride through the cities, and stop at hotels in Scotland. A third will invariably try some farmer or shepherd's cottage, there ask to be taken in overnight, and will only enter public-houses when he comes to some such famous hostelry as the Swan Inn near Therlmere. These are only three grades of travellers, and where the first will average from $10 to $20 a day, the third will probably do it on the average of not more than $1 a day.
Let us take up the question of English wheeling this week, and the French side of bicycling next week. To bicycle through England certain simple facts should be borne in mind. In the first place, do not take a steamer for Liverpool. Sail from New York or Boston by a steamer that stops at Southampton, and begin your trip through England from Southampton itself. If you go to Liverpool, there will be some difficulty in getting out of Liverpool itself, and the country immediately around Liverpool is not so attractive as that around Southampton. Starting from Southampton, then, cross to Isle of Wight and ride through Newport and Ryde, going even so far as St. Catharine's Point. Returning to the mainland, it may be said that any route you may lay out will lead you through beautiful country of fine roads, and suitable places for stopping at every mile. One good ride is through Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall to Land's End. But the chief route, and the best one probably if it is your first in England, is to run from Southampton through Winchester, Aldershot, and thence across a corner of Surrey to London. From London, following the Thames, out through Windsor, Henley, Abingdon, to Oxford; thence to Cheltenham, and from this point passing up through Warwickshire, circling around Birmingham instead of going into the city, and making for Leicester. From Leicester run straight to Derby, and then there are many routes to Chester. From Chester the object should be to reach Windermere without passing through too many of the great manufacturing towns. This route each man must pick out according to his map and his own judgment.
On reaching Windermere, on the edge of Lake Windermere, move on to Ambleside, Keswick; thence through Newmarket to Carlisle. Leaving Carlisle, make for the Solway Firth railway bridge, cross on the railroad train, and run up through Dumfries. From this point to Ayr there is a very good road, and at the end of it any one who is an admirer of Burns may study him in his home. From Ayr proceed to Glasgow through Kilmarnock, and from Glasgow the prettiest run is through Dumbarton up the western shore of Loch Lomond; then, following the valley at the north end of the Loch, you will come in time to Tyndrum, and from here it is not a long run to Oban. Here the trip may be further extended up the Caledonian Canal, or the return trip may be made through Stirling to Edinburgh, and thence back to London along the east coast. Such a trip may be completed, including the journey over and back, in from six to eight weeks, and if the method of going to private houses wherever feasible is followed, the expense need not exceed $250.
Any questions in regard to photograph matters will be willingly answered by the Editor of this column, and we should be glad to hear from any of our club who can make helpful suggestions.