THROUGH BRITAIN ON A BICYCLE.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 31 October 1882, Page 3

THROUGH BRITAIN ON A BICYCLE.

' '■ ♦ — ' • ; ■ A somewhat remarkable /bicycle ride, (according to a recent London paper) has , been accomplished by the H0n.,1. Keith*: Falccjner, the distance travelled being from' Land's ' End „.'to( John o\ Groat's House. . Mr Keith-Falconer, an .old Harrovian arid Cantab, is a well-known ■ amateur.bicyclist, and had, for sometime past contemplated, a journey on wheels from jone end of the island to. the other. He left the. Land's End „Hotel, early on tho s morning of Monday, the sth July. He . traversed Cornwall rapidly. The .Devonshire , roads were, , as usual, bad <and difficult ; but those in Somersetshire gradually (improved, and the journey through., the centre of England, was ! . rapid! arid prosperous. Near Rugby the 'first 'accident occurred, from the breaking of a spring, but it was repaired in a few hours. Bain. had thus far a gbo.d deal impeded the traveller, though it apparently, had not dampedhis 1 ardour; but with, the Yorkshire journey began a' series of north-weßt winds, which beat full in his face, increasing as he drew near the border, and when he entered Scotland attaining the violence of a positive gale. It was heartbreaking work to struggle against ■this, and it needed a considerable amount of physical strength- as well as. of courage to bear up in the face of it. For three or four days, with varying force, 1 the blast had been beating against the bycycle, and Mr Keith-Falconer, who had had to walk in some cases for ten miles or more, from the impossibilityl of forcing his way against the wind, found his foot becoming swollen and uselesß. | He 'iield on,, however, and on Thursday night, 15th (the second.Thursday of the expedition), he found himself atDalwhinnie, with the wind atlast abating. :He was then at a distance of 215 miles from his gaol, and his foot was very painful. , However, bathing and, poulticing did sorhething for it, and on Friday morning the weather and the road were inviting. He saw his opportunity, and started at a quarter past nine in the morning from Dalwhinnie. That day he lunched at Inverness, dined at Dingwall, and slept at Tain. On Saturday he started for the last time, rode along the coast of Sutherland, mounted the Ord of Caithness before the sun had set, reached Wick a few minutes after midnight, arid by twenty minutes after three on the morning of Sunday the 18th, he was knocking at the door of the John o' Groat's Hotel. So ended an enterprising and interesting ride. It is certainly the first time that a traveller has journeyed from end to end of our island by the force of his, owu , personal exertions in the space of less than a fortnight. ' The distance so taken ' was exactly ' 994 miles, and the time, occupied, 12 days 23£ hou rs ,' or roughly speaking, 13 days. The last 215. miles were ridden in 42 hqnrs. . . .