’A LONG TOUR.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2114, 24 June 1907, Page 3

’A LONG TOUR.

CYCLING ROUND THE WORLD A young man named W. T. Liddlc, who has undertaken to make a name for himself by making a world tour on a bicycle; has arrived in Timaru. Mr. Liddle, a Scotsman by birth and. a draper by trade, went to South Africa as a member of the Scottish Cycling Corps, or Despatch Riders for the Boer war, but the war was nearly over when they reached the spene. After spending four years in Capetown he’was seized with the idea of emulating some previous travellers, and set out, with his bicycle, the clothes he stood in, and a penny in his pocket. One may wonder how lie existed, but, according to his own Btory, the curiosity of people in regard to his undertaking, the sale of his photograph as a curio, and lectures on his travels-to'cycling clubs when he meets with them, have secured for him,. if not three meals a day, at all ovents a fair average of sustenance. As to sleeping accommodation, he has not been “pernickctty” about that, though he carries no blankets. So far he reckons that he has ridden over 13,000 miles; by going from Capetown to Pretoria across to Durban and down to Port Elizabeth, in Africa; and from Melbourne to Cairns and down to Sydney in Eastern Australia; a -run from Bluff round by the Lakes to‘ Timaru supplying a good fraction of the total. In crossing seas he works his passage, or saves from the generous gifts of sympathetic friends. So far he has got along very comfortably on the whole, without directly asking anyone for a meal. , “What is his idea? What is he doing it for? What can he make of it?” are questions that will occur to most people. In reply' to them, Mr. Liddle says that he will make a name for Himself; that he keeps a diary and takes notes as he goes, regarding the industries and modes and towns he passes through, and of life pf people, and of the scenery these will make a book some day; he also collects postcard views, of towns (he has about 5000 of these) and curios of all sorts as he has opportunity, and these, sent home to his people from time to time, will make an interesting museum by the time he lias got through the task he has sot himself. This includes, after a tour ol New Zealand, a run through Western Australia, then a course through India, China, Japan, America, and Europe, which will have given him a trip “round the world on a bicycle. • Cyclists may bo interested to learn (says the Timaru Herald) that up to date he has worn out five tyre covers • that at Dunedin he had to get his’chain replaced for the first time and also the rubber on the pedals. The machine is otherwise good, but looks the worse for wear, and he intends to got it completely donoup at Cbristchurch.That is not a bad record for a machine. Tho rider is a light weight himself, but he carries a kit of about 601 b of books, tools, and sundries.