NC500 in 1925

[HUX]

For those that like old photos I just came across this

Bikepacking the NC500 in 1925. The cycling journalist Kuklos (William Fitzwater Wray) and his wife Emily cycled a large part of the route (with additions through Fort Augustus and Skye) in the summer of 1925. producing a series of lantern slides which he lectured widely with over the next decade. The complete set of 56 slides are online at: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/ ... t_britain/

[fatbikephil]

Good find that - landscape hasn't changed much, but a lot more campervans these days....

[Moder-dye]

Nice

[MuddyPete]

Charming photos, thanks for digging them out HUX.
I note the practice of photographing one's bicycle leaning against something is not a new thing (John O'Groats hotel)

[The Cumbrian]

That's brilliant. Tweed jackets, hike a bike and smoking tabs. I wonder how many hills they had to walk down due to inadequate brakes?

[Moder-dye]

And walk up too with single speeding and lots of gravel roads back then.

[JackT]

I'm a big fan of Kuklos. One of the early cycle touring "influencers". Plus ça change!

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[JackT]

Not wishing to divert the discussion from the NC500, but some may enjoy Kuklos's celebrated 39 Articles, published in 1927. How many of them still apply a century later, and how many require revision or deletion?


1. Because the land of our fathers is very fair to see on the whole, and because it likes us to go out in joy and admiration of it.
2. Because the number increases year by year of those who would fain roam that land without taking either noises or smells with them.
3. Because British bicycles are very cheap, and of wonderful quality.
4. Because British roads are the best in the world, and as good in winter as in summer.
5. Because the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.
6. Because a bicycle is a cunning mechanical device for the conservation of energy, and the making of hard work easy.
7. Because a real bicycle is not a push-bike any longer, meaning a machine which requires a lot of pushing.
8. Because we islanders had ever exploring minds, and a liking for vagrancy of the most free and inde-pendent kind.
9. Because you can lift a real bicycle over stile and gate, and carry it across stepping-stones.
10. Because you can hear the birds and smell the flowers as you ride.
11. Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes.
12. Because the narrow and curving little ways, where peace and beauty abide, were made for the bicycle, and the bicycle for them.
13. Because it appeals strongly to many people that the passage of a bicycle very rarely causes fear or discomfort to other wayfarers.
14. Because it is a fine thing to travel by virtue of your own power.
15. Because you can be just as economical of your own energy, or just as prodigal of it, as you please.
16. Because the scope of your travel increases so widely the more you keep physically fit that a bicycle is a strong incentive to the cultivation of good health.
17. Because a corpus sanum is more than half-way to a mens sana.
18. Because health and happiness are more to be desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold.
19. Because the cyclist does not need to carry a directory of repair-shops.
20. Because June follows May; and in January the earth has the beauty of sleep.
21. Because wholesome people like to feel the elemental contact of sun and wind and rain; and because a bicycle has no "saloon body."
22. Because the cyclist fears neither great heat nor great frost, for he makes his own draught in the dog- days and it blows freely through his loose and scanty clothing; while in frozen winter he can keep the warm blood coursing freely.
23. Because she can saunter so slowly if she likes that she can count the bells in the crimson carillon of the foxglove.
24. Because she can hurry so if she likes that she can leave Hoxton or Ancoats on a Saturday afternoon and see Jordans and Aldbury, or Budworth Big and Budworth Little, before she gets back to bed at Hoxton or Ancoats.
25. Because the bicycle can be (and is) the instrument of keen competitive athletics equally with the bat, the oar, the racquet; and because less noise is made about its records than about those of the bat, the oar, the racquet, so that they appeal to older and more dignified sporting instincts than those in the limelight, with " photos on back page."
26. Because a strong man rejoiceth to run a race, and a young man in his youth.
27. Because young men like to think that they too can ride into the bicycle's roll of fame along with Mills and Shorland, Green and Davey, Southall and Rossiter; and departing leave behind them wheel- prints on the sands of time.
28. Because the bicycle runs on but one narrow track, so that it can travel the moorland paths, and even cross the Larig Ghru Pass and High Cup Nick, as it has done.
29. Because it is not illegal to cycle on footpaths unless they run by the side of public roads.
30. Because the bicycle brings its owner no demand note from the Inland Revenue on the first day of every year.
31. Because convicts must wear numbers, but cyclists need not.
32. Because the only freemasonry of the road is that of the bicycle.
33. Because there is no comradeship to better that of the cycling clubs of to-day.
34. Because the lines are fallen unto us in pleasant places, yea, we have a goodly heritage.
35. Because "to live out of doors with the woman a man loves is of all lives the most complete and free."*
36. Because the cyclist need not wear several leather suits to keep out the draught, nor upholster his head in fear of telegraph-posts.
37. Because travel is the finest educational system of all; and cycling the cheapest, easiest, and most educational means of travel.
38. Because the bicycle does not force you to keep going, but encourages you to dally and commune with the stranger and foreigner.
39. Because on every real bicycle there is the unseen pennant of progress, the standard of democracy, the banner of freedom.

These be the Thirty-Nine Articles of our faith.

[MuddyPete]

He'd probably want to amend 3 & 4, but the rest are still relevant .

[Tractionman]

great to see that list there's a certain poetry to this

28. Because the bicycle runs on but one narrow track, so that it can travel the moorland paths, and even cross the Larig Ghru Pass and High Cup Nick, as it has done.

[fatbikephil]

great to see that list there's a certain poetry to this

28. Because the bicycle runs on but one narrow track, so that it can travel the moorland paths, and even cross the Larig Ghru Pass and High Cup Nick, as it has done.

Which is good going by any standard but especially in '27.

36 also made me smile, as a motorcyclist!

[AndreR]

Lovely that, really captures the feel of the landscape and the vibe of the trip. Thanks for sharing.

[Leerowe76]

Cool find