ROAD BOOKS
Road Books
- NEXT TO A RELIABLE MACHINE, the most pressing necessity of the wandering wheelman is undoubtedly a trustworthy guide by means of which he may direct and shape his course from place to place…. the guide book must be first of all a road book, or perhaps it would be more correct to call it a route book. There have been various attempts during the past fifteen years to supply wheelmen with works of this description, many of them being, it is needless to state, most inoomplete and valueless productions. At one time it was considered indispensable that a good road book should give as much information as possible of the condition of the roads themselves, and the positions of dangerously steep hills; but the necessity for such information was based upon the assumption that most of those for whose benefit the book was intended were riders of the ordinary bicycle. For many of these tourists the knowledge of the positions of dangerous descents was of undoubted value, and it was about this time that considerable activity was displayed by the National Cyclists Union in the erection of danger boards upon the summits of such hills. Now that the vast majority of touring wheelmen use safety bicycles or tricycles in which the brake power is unlimited, the steep descent has lost its terror. Then, again, with reference to the character of road surfaces, experience showed that information on this point, except in general terms, was of no special value, as, in the first place, roads are known to improve or deteriorate in the course of years; and, secondly, the roads in any particular district are not so bad as to deter the rider of a well-constructed machine from traversing such a region if it possesses sufficient attraction of other kinds. – The Field, 6 April 1889 (British Newspaper Archive)
Complementary to cyclists’ maps were road books, which could give supplementary information of importance to them but which could not be shown or deduced from maps. For that reason they are deserving of some comment in this treatise. They can also provide some interesting insights to the early cycling scene. Note that I have confined myself to those works primarily directed at providing navigational information to the traveller, rather than general topographical works and tourist guidebooks.
The early cycling road books were successors to the Georgian road books which flourished around the end of the 18th century, but which had largely been made redundant by the railways. However, the development of cycling from the 1870s breathed new life into these dusty tomes and most of the later cycling road books and maps relied heavily on these older volumes for their distances and the best routes from London. It is therefore worth starting with a short look at these early sources. The two most prominent road books of the coaching era were those of John Cary and Daniel Paterson.
In 1771 Daniel Paterson, Assistant Quartermaster to His Majesty’s Forces, published A New and Accurate Description of the Direct and Principal Cross Roads in England and Wales and part of the Roads of Scotland. Distances from London were measured from the traditional starting points of the great roads, such as London Bridge for the Kent roads and Shoreditch Church for the Old Great North Road, Cambridge etc., Hyde Park Corner for Uxbridge etc. These distances thus corresponded to those on the milestones erected by the various turnpikes. From 1815 the work was edited by Edward Mogg, publisher of his own ‘Pocket Itinerary’ and various other maps. The final (18th) edition of ‘Paterson’s’ appeared in 1826, though remaining in print, with supplements, until the 1840s.
The main rival to Paterson’s work appeared in 1798 as Cary’s New Itinerary: or an accurate delineation of the Great Roads both Direct and Cross throughout England & Wales with many of the principal Roads in Scotland. From an Accurate Admeasurement made by Command of His Majesty’s Postmaster General. John Cary was already a well-established cartographer who had produced his New and Correct Atlas of England in 1787, which, albeit extensively revised, was to form the basis of many a cycling map a century later. The Itinerary itself went through eleven editions, last appearing in 1828. Distances from London, given to the nearest furlong (⅛ mile), were initially measured from the General Post Office: later editions used the same starting ‘standards’ as Paterson, so that. “the distances may correspond as nearly as possible with the milestones on these roads ”.
Neither Paterson nor Cary covered Scotland, save for through routes between England and Edinburgh or Glasgow. However, there were various Scottish-based equivalents, such as James Duncan’s Itinerary of Scotland, published by James Lumsden & Co., Glasgow. Appearing in seven editions between 1805 and 1830, the fourth (1820) edition is viewable on the Google Books website.
The former turnpike trusts, whose roads still formed the inter-urban network well into the 20th century, had been obliged by law to provide milestones since post-chaise hire and letter postage was charged by distance. However, there was no obligation on them, or indeed anyone, to provide direction posts. As a result route-finding could be difficult, well into the 20th century, even to extricate oneself from the ever-expanding towns and cities. Some later road books gave a lot of space in thumbnail maps or text to assist users in finding their right exit out of a town. For example, Michelin maps showed exit route references from large towns, which corresponded to those on the town plans in the Michelin Guide. Road-numbering – our present system of ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads - was not introduced until 1923.
For cyclists, of equal importance to route-finding was information to be found in road books on the surfacing of roads, dangerous hills, fords and urban tram lines. This might be supplemented by addresses of cycle repairers, hotels, town market days (best avoided), places of interest and comments on quality of scenery; at their briefest they would be confined to road distances. A common feature was a lamplighting table.
Charles Spencer, one of the earliest cycling pioneers (partner in a gymnastic equipment company, he imported velocipedes from France at the start of 1869), published both The Modern Bicycle and The Bicycle Road Book for England and Wales in 1876. The latter (interestingly subtitled ‘for Bicyclists and pedestrians’) was to become surprisingly long-lived, becoming, after various editions, The Cyclist’s Road Book in 1887. A copy has been reprinted by the British Library and the 1880 edition may be read (along with various other early cycling works) on the Pelotomes website.
Early editions of Spencer were solely confined to road mileages, taken from Paterson, plus populations
and hotels of towns. A few of the hotels are appended with a favourable note
where welcoming to cyclists, not a given in the early days. The book’s main
deficiency – as with the majority of road books – is that some routes are
outdated; in fact it might be described as a ‘Pocket Paterson’. To give some Devonshire examples (a theme to which I return to below),
three routes are given for Exeter to Barnstaple – via Crediton and South
Molton, via Crediton, Chulmleigh and South Molton, and via Chulmleigh and Atherington
– none utilising a direct road built fifty years earlier but too late for Paterson. Throughout the book
routes are not necessarily sensible ‘end to end’ options. Paterson’s Roads had two sections: the first comprising routes from London to just about all places of note, the second, almost as lengthy, covering cross-country routes not covered in section one. This second section was omitted by Spencer, which meant such important routes as Bristol – Birmingham – Derby were wanting. A new edition of 1887 did attempt to make up the deficiency, but made a rather poor job of it.
In 1897 the journal Cycling issued an edition of Spencer under its own name - 'A complete guide to the Roads of England, Scotland and Wales, with Map. Thoroughly up-to-date!' (a lie), It was only advertised that summer, whilst the general edition continued to be sold under its Cyclist’s Road Book title by H. Grube. It was replaced by Cycling’s own, sixpenny, Road Book, the Cycling Pocket Road Book, a much briefer affair. This proved very popular, but was a bit thin on northern England, so from 1902 an additional Northern Edition was produced, the original being named London Edition, both sixpence including map. From the 9th (1907) edition the two were combined again, some updates made for the Northern edition being lost. Mileages and routes were still predominantly Paterson, retaining some inexcusable archaicisms and some bizarre route suggestions. Cheap, but unworthy of what was England’s premier cycling paper. Publication seems to have ceased in 1914.
Later editions of Spencer (1904, 1910), although stated as revised by E. J. Larby, were still fundamentally Paterson in structure and content. Its deficiencies were becoming more obvious: routes across the sands of Morecambe Bay had no business to appear in a route book for cyclists, never mind ‘Automobilists’. Still included was the coast road between Barmston and Bridlington, long consigned to a watery grave. Comments on road conditions were scant but still directed at cyclists rather than motorists; even so, one is surprised to see the Llangollen – Ruthin road over the superbly-engineered Horseshoe Pass described as ‘unrideable, being little more than a bridle path over the hills’!. This comment is clearly mislocated while many other comments seem to be decades out of date.
In a work like this a comprehensive index to places is essential, but the one provided did not cover places or routes included in the extensive number of ‘cross roads’. It is further complicated by these cross roads being spread over two appendixes, making finding them even harder. As an example, the index entry for Uttoxeter lists it under the London – Burslem and London – Buxton routes that pass through the town (neither, incidentally, being the best ‘end to end’ routes). Omitted, however, is reference to the the Stafford – Uttoxeter – Derby route given in the cross-roads appendix, which would be of equal interest to local cyclists. Coventry appears only once in the index, but thumbing through the appendix reveals another three routes passing through it. Some of the distances given for cross roads are a little understated. It’s a shame to see what had been, and could still have been, a valuable work of reference allowed to go to seed.
From around 1900 Spencer’s book became The Cyclist’s and Automobilist’s Road Book. The final version of Spencer (and still accredited to him, despite his death in 1890) was published by E. J. Larby in 1925, now titled The Cyclist’s & Motorist’s Road Book.and revised by Reginald Wellbye. The layout and structure of the earlier work was retained, comprising something of a straitjacket, but several of the more glaring archaicisms were addressed. But the superseded Devon routes mentioned earlier were still retained, although an added footnote conceded that ‘the best way between Crediton and Barnstaple is now via Copplestone’ – as it had been for the preceeding 95 years. This edition still retains the text displayed above for the Brighton roads almost line for line, but adds some comments on the merits of the various routes
Wellbye’s revisions made the 1925 edition more user-friendly by including advice on the best routes to take where more than one was proffered, and alluding to cross-roads in the index (though with these routes still spread over two appendixes). But the main change was the insertion of numerous references to his newly-published Wayfaring Guides, which shared the book's publisher E. J. Larby. In the new introduction Wellbye makes some sniffy remarks about the new national road-numbering system just introduced, pronouncing it as being of little use for the traveller as not reflecting the traditional inter-urban routes, ignoring the fact that it was those ‘traditional’ routes given in road books such as Spencer that were increasingly becoming inappropriate.
The Bicycling Times produced an Annual from 1877 recapping cycling events of the previous year. The 1879 edition added a comprehensive summary of distances along the main routes from London, based on Paterson, so could be said to stray into ‘Road Book’ territory. A similar early work was The Bicycle for 1874 (and ditto until 1878), written by Alfred Howard, by 1876 containing inter alia ‘Three thousand miles of road between all the chief towns in England’. Alfred Howard also published the Bicycle Journal, which ran from 1876 to 1878, the first cycling paper to gain any degree of success.
Another popular early road book was Charles (brother of Alfred?) Howard’s The Roads of England & Wales, published in numerous editions from 1882 by Letts & Son, and later by other publishers. Howard was a former Hon. Sec. of the Wanderers’ Bicycle Club, London (‘gentleman amateurs only: uniform, blue turban or helmet, dark blue pilot jacket, knee-breeches and stockings’). Routes and distances were derived, with acknowledgement, from Paterson’s Roads, and carried forward several details already out of date when that earlier work was published. Strangely, roads on the Isle of Wight were omitted. There was an associated map (1s.; useless), also sold separately. The book is notable for the detail it gives on the character and quality of road surfacings, though for some parts of the country such information is patchy or non-existent. First appearing a few years before the advent of the safety bicycle, its comments on the rideability of hills were to become outdated: nevertheless its underlying thoroughness meant it remained in print for nearly twenty years, despite its 5/- price being notably higher than its early rivals. The 1889 (5th) edition (virtually unchanged from the first) is viewable courtesy of the Hathi Trust Digital Library.
Volume 1 (South) of a Handy Route Book of England & Wales appeared in 1885, the first of three intended sectional volumes of Charles Howard’s work. The final section does not seem to have reached publication, perhaps due to Letts’s bankrupcy that year. However, Howard produced a companion volume, An Itinerary and Road Book of Scotland, in 1887, published by Letts’s successors, Mason & Payne.
One deficiency of these early road books, as with their Georgian predecessors, was that in the attempt to include routes from London to every town in the country, many major destinations were served by a profusion of routes and it was not obvious which were serious alternatives rather than simply a ‘mopping up’ exercise to cover intermediate towns. Thus Howard gives five routes from London to Brighton – via Croydon, Lindfield and Ditchling, via Redhill, Balcombe & Cuckfield, via Crawley, Hand Cross & Hickstead, via Crawley and Cuckfield, and via Sutton & Reigate. This reflects the clockwise arrangement of the routes rather than their respective merits, though in a note he does rate the Handcross and the Reigate routes as the best.
A work of some significance, although covering a relatively local area, appeared in 1885. This was James Lennox’s Road Guide to the Southern Counties of Scotland. Lennox (1856 – 1917) was a long-distance cyclist of some repute, being a past record-holder of John o’ Groats to Land’s End and reverse, and CTC Chief Consul for Southern Scotland. His endurance riding was curtailed by an injury received in 1886. A later Provost (mayor) of his home town of Dumfries, he was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a standing he held in common with Harry R. G. Inglis, of the Edinburgh publishers Gall and Inglis, and which no doubt led to their collaboration on that company’s ‘graded’ maps.
Lennox's Guide described the five counties of Dumfries, Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, Roxburgh and Selkirk, covered in 73 routes, including distances and notes on the character and condition of the roads. About half of each page taken up with topographical and historical information. Thus it might be regarded equally as a road book with a guide to the district, or as a guide for the inquisitive visitor with notes on how to make your way about. A copy may be viewed on the Google Books website.
In 1898 Gall & Inglis published James Lennox’s Cyclist’s Road Book & Guide to The Borders and Galloway, a revised and expanded (83 route) version of his Southern Counties work. The same year was published the first of that company’s ‘Graded’ maps on the half-inch scale, Galloway, utilising the road quality information supplied by Lennox.
Probably the most detailed of the cycling road books, as might be expected, were those of the Cyclists' Touring Club, which first appeared in the 1890s. In fact, a pioneering Road Book for Eastern England had appeared as early as 1881, in BTC days, produced at the instigation of James Sellors, and intended as a prototype for a national series. This was put in hand in 1884. After a long gestation Volume 1 (Southern England) appeared in 1891, but the two for the remainder of England and Wales were much further delayed, not appearing until 1897. Some of the reasons given for the delay are interesting - more roads than expected requiring coverage, some of which “had only become rideable roads within the past year or two"; other roads, presumably later turnpikes, were not shown on the maps available to the editior and so initially had been overlooked; and a general lack of volunteers to survey the routes, despite plaintive requests in the Gazette. In the meantime three continental volumes had been produced, while William James Spurrier, a Birmingham CTC consul, advertising agent and inventor of such cycling-related items as the non-vibrating handlebar, had produced his own road book. This - The Cyclists’ Route Book for Great Britain (1890) was much less detailed than those of Spencer or Howard, being about half the bulk of the latter, but extended to a few main routes in Scotland and (later) Ireland. This seems to have grown out of his earlier (1883) Bicycle Road Book, perpetuating the map (now known as the Wayabout Map, also available separately). His comments on clothing and diet would strike us as odd today. A viewable copy (missing the map sections) is available on the Hathi Trust Digital Library website. Various ‘enlarged and revised’ editions followed.
W. J. Spurrier’s Cyclists’ Route Book incorporated his Wayabout Map, in five sections. By the 1890s the road detail would be regarded as pessimistic, the map having been drawn up before the advent of the Safety bicycle. The map serves as a quick key to the book's routes, but fails somewhat as a free-standing map for the touring cyclist. Neither Ilkley nor Grassington are named, though the road between them (equally unmarked) past Bolton Abbey would be a favourite run for cyclists from Leeds and Bradford. Even as a key to the quality of the roads it is unreliable: Sutton Bank (1 in 4), between Helmsley and Thirsk, receives no acknowledgement in map or text while the dip marked near Kirkby Moorside is on the old, superseded, road. However, Spurrier's provision of routes for crossing or avoiding London was extensive. In 1892 he published a guide to Rhyl, a place of which he seems to have been inordinately fond.
From all the foregoing paragraphs, it may be concluded that overall I am a bit underwhelmed with the first generation of cycling road books, mainly in their over-reliance on out-of date sources and the inertia which led to obvious shortcomings not being addressed for decades, if at all. However, on reflection I think most of the blame lies with cyclists themselves. Compilers of the early works were over-reliant on the productions of their Georgian predecessors, which in their day were as accurate and comprehensive as could be desired. All other information was what could be gleaned from the author’s personal knowledge or that of his acquaintances. The Ordnance Survey map often had not been revised for decades, so recent roads might not appear on their map, and hence on any map. It was standard for all compilers to thank their contributors and politely request that readers reported back errors and omissions, so that matters could be corrected in subsequent editions. It is that feedback that seems to be lacking: cyclists might complain to themselves that a particular road was now barely passable, or that a ferry had ceased, or a new, better route was not included, but dropping a note to the publisher to report it, and thereby help his fellow cyclists, seems to have been beyond them. I can’t believe publishers deserve all the blame for the obsolete content so apparent in what was palmed off on the cycling public.
Returning to the CTC Road Books, further volumes covering Scotland (1897) and Ireland (initially in two volumes, 1899 & 1900). completed their coverage of the British Isles. This initial series were rather weighty volumes, with the text almost entirely given over to detailed directions, duplicating rather than complementing a map (the Scottish volume, however, was more ‘chattty’,with notes on scenery and historical references). No maps were included in the guides, other than a small-scale key map (printed by Edward Stanford, on waterproof paper) included in a cover pocket. Complementary descriptive articles appeared in the CTC Monthly Gazette and from 1898 some Road Book volumes were supplemented by ‘Companion’ books of the same districts, giving a general tourist guide structured around the routes.
1894 saw the first publication of the Scottish Road Book, published by Hay, Nisbet & Co. of Glasgow. As well as details of racing records and fixtures and general information it included a gradually increasing number of cycling routes throughout Scotland. This small book, also known as the Scottish Cyclist's Annual, seems to have been popular, as new editions appeared annually up to WW1. Price was sixpence, reduced in 1904 to one penny, or 3d with map. Post WW1 the prices were doubled and publication less frequent, ceasing in the 1920s.
In Ireland, R. J. Mecredy (a former champion racing cyclist, 1861 – 1924) published a well-received Road Book of Ireland. This first appeared as a single volume in 1892, later as two volumes. More information is given on the Mecredy page.
Other popular works, of what was then a novel format, were the Contour Road Books by Gall & Inglis (covered in some detail under their heading on the Gall & Inglis page), appearing in the late 1890s. These took advantage of the latest Ordnance Survey maps, which included spot heights and contours, to give detailed vertical profiles for the roads as well as distances to ⅛ mile. The road network covered was also up-to-date, unlike those in many of their contemporaries. The books crammed in a lot of information for their small size and proved extremely popular and long-lived. Cycling magazine published their own profile road book – the Profile Road Book of England - using extracts from the Gall & Inglis originals by arrangement: this was later taken up by E. J. Larby Ltd. There was later another profile book on the same lines by Geographia Ltd.
These rivals undermined the popularity of the CTC road books. Some volumes had expanded to the size and weight of a brick, defeating their purpose as a portable aid. What was the point of all those detailed directions if the book stayed at home? The original series was superseded from 1911 by a new series, more compact in size, incorporating strip maps on a scale of five miles to the inch, and (in a nod to the popularity of the ‘Contour’ Road Books and suchlike) adjacent road profiles for all but the flattest routes. The text now covered features of interest, locations requiring care etc, with fewer observations on road surface. A separate appendix included town plans and descriptions. The three volumes for England and Wales became six. Those for Ireland (now combined as one volume) and Scotland were not revamped and reissued.
Although four volumes of the CTC New Series had appeared before WW1 – Vol. 6 North-West England (1911), Vol. 1 South-East England (1912), Vol. 2 South-West England (1913 ), Vol. 5 North-East England (1913), publication of the remaining volumes 3 East Anglia and 4 West Midlands & Wales was delayed – the CTC no longer had the volunteers on the ground to support the virtual rewriting of the books. Volume 4 did not appear until 1931 , by which time some of the other volumes were out of print. Volume 3 was still ‘in preparation’ according to the 1932 CTC Handbook so may never have appeared. By now, with reliable road surfaces and road numbering, the need for a road book was diminishing: a decent map (more likely to be updated for newly-built roads) was sufficient. General guidebooks, formerly tied to rail-based itineraries, were now more road-based. And as the compilers admitted, more cyclists were spurning the direct main routes of the road books for quieter alternatives. The CTC did bring out a series of over a dozen 'Route Books' during the 1930s, but these were more accommodation guides than touring guides, as were some similar booklets published by the National Cycling Union. In both series routes were nearly all confined to ‘A’ roads.
Road books in general provide rather dry reading, but the following extracts may be of interest:
P.23: Ditchling to Brighton: A short distance out of Ditchling begins a very steep and winding ascent, with rough and stony surface, and too steep to be ridden up or down, leading to the top of the South Downs; on the top the road becomes a mere cart and hoof track for about 3m over the Downs, which must be walked, then it improves and is rideable, all up and down hill, but still rough and very stony for 2m more till clear of the Downs, and the last 1½m are all downhill into Brighton.
[The inclusion of this virtually abandoned section of road is a throwback to Paterson’s Roads, though Howard does mention the alternative route from Ditchling via Clayton. An 1828 proposal for a road tunnel under the hill sadly came to nothing.]
P.27: Reigate Hill: here the cyclist should dismount (Bicycle Union “danger board” is erected on left) for the long winding descent of Reigate Hill, running right down into the town: the first part, ⅓m long, is very steep, with its surface for half its width on the left formed of loose stony gravel, and extremely rough, while on the other half a double row of flagstones is laid for upward vehicle traffic; this descent is unrideable except with a very powerful brake, though it has been ridden down and can be just ridden up by a good rider keeping to the flagstones, but in any case is dangerous… the average gradient on the flagstones is 10ft in 100ft.
P. 140: Birmingham… for a town is very hilly and bicyclists had best give it a wide berth.
P. 140: Birmingham – Wolverhampton… it is a macadam road, and very bad for cycling, being extremely rough and full of holes; tramway laid and heavy traffic...this is a most undesirable road to travel.
[so not much changed!]
"Cycling" Pocket Road Book, Northern Edition 1903, A Few Tips
Shouting at sheep – Sheep are most unpleasant animals for the cyclist to come in contact with, especially as they never observe the rules of the road in the slightest, and it will usually be found quite impossible to ride on when a flock is approaching, The writer tried the experiment a short while back of riding very slowly and imitating to the best of his ability the bark of a dog. This worked wonders, and since then he has never been compelled to dismount when approaching sheep.
[This tip first appeared in Cycling, 24 October 1896]
P. 357 Circuit of Arran: It is a narrow road,
with very variable surface. On the less frequented portions the surface is
loose and rough, but on the whole it offers fair riding. Tricyclists, however, will
not find the roads in Arran adapted to their machines either with regard to the
nature of the road-surface or to the fact that only a narrow foot-bridge is
provided for crossing some of the streams. The scenery is very
fine throughout. [Such water-splashes
were not unknown on contemporary English and Welsh main roads. Motor cars were prohibited on most of Arran’s roads until 1913, when they were admitted subject to the same 10mph speed lImit that had applied to motor cycles.]
- P. 27: Brynmawr to Crumlin. Cyclists who are strangers to the locality should not attempt to ride into Aber-beeg from either direction.
CTC British Road Book, Vol 2 3rd Ed. 1906, p619:
Norwich to Lynn via Bawdeswell and Litcham. This is the old coach route between Norwich and Lynn. Owing to the fact that it passes through no places of importance and that it traverses a sparsely populated district, it has to a large extent fallen into disuse as a continuous route. For cycling, however, it forms a pleasant variation from the main road, via East Dereham and Swaffham; it is sequestered, very open, and takes high ground. On the other hand, the surface is inferior to the main road and in parts, particularly between Litcham and Gayton, is rough and sandy, but regarded as a whole is a very fair road.
On main thoroughfares between towns, setts, often muddy or greasy, and tram-lines may be expected; on country roads macadam, varying according to the local stone, skill and attention. On lanes and hill routes cyclists must take their chance, and never attempt more than can be walked if necessary.
[Tramway operators were responsible for maintaining the road surface between and adjacent to the railtrack, with the remainder of the carriageway maintained by the local authority. There could thus be a difference in materials and levels where the two met, presenting a hazard to cyclists, additional to the hindrance from the trams themselves. Some early tram systems used a cable operating in a slot along the road: these were even more dangerous for cyclists.]
Honister Hause. Probably vilest coach road extant, though improved. Descent by new private road, rideable, despite gates. Pay 2d at low end if keeper there; otherwise lift machine over last gate.
[The reference to ‘at the low end’ suggests imposters were bilking travellers for payment at the top! 1930s improvements to the public road rendered the toll road, built by the quarry proprietors, redundant, though it can still be followed by bike].
CTC British Road Book, New Series, Vol 6 North-West England 1911, p139:
Route 79. Marske – Middleham – Kettlewell: Track very steep and stony near summit… only for hardy riders; surface fair to Bradley, then poor; descent at first unrideable [into Wharfedale]. Swaledale is deepest and narrowest valley in N. Yorks; somewhat gloomy and with few good inns.
Contour Road Book of England, S.E. Division 1898, General Notes:
From the north, the Great North Road from Doncaster to London is the best and should be chosen if at all convenient… from the west the Bath Road is the best main highway; from the south-west the road by Winchester. Strangers who are visiting London will find the seven miles of “suburbs” into, or out of the city very wearisome, and are recommended to take the train. Riding in “the City” is highly dangerous to the uninitiated, and even to the initiated very risky… The trains on the underground railway run every few minutes to all parts of London. Cycles go in the van next the engine.
[The early ‘cut & cover’ lines were still steam operated. The later, deeper ‘tubes’ have always been electrified and not conveyed bicycles]
Contour Road Book of Ireland, ‘Royal’ Edition, 1902:
At the present moment hardly any county [in Ireland] can be said to have the pre-eminence in regard to superiority of roads. The average main road is very bumpy wherever there is heavy traffic, and were it not that footpath riding is sympathetically looked upon by the Constabulary, the tourist would have a bad time of it in many districts. In Phoenix Park Dublin, the cyclist may ride on the footpaths.
[The reference to footpath is to what in modern parlance would be footway: it was a test case concerning a cyclist wheeling his machine on the footway that led to a bicycle being defined as a carriage and its use confined to the roadway. It does not render riding on a footpath not forming part of a road illegal. Few rural roads ever had a ‘footway’, which in practice would have been no more than a verge, and such that existed have mostly long been subsumed into widened carriageways. Footway riding seems to have been more widely tolerated in Ireland than Gt Britain.]
Contour Road Book of Scotland, 1903:
Tyndrum to Fort William: This is a bad road. From Tyndrum to Inveroran the surface is poor – in fact rather stony – thereafter the road becomes much worse, and though it improves a little near Kingshouse it is very rough and stony down Glencoe, and has several very nasty turns at 24¾m. As the streams in heavy rains often sweep the road, it is sometimes in parts more like a river-bed. After Claichaig the road is good, though undulating to Ballachulish. Thence to Fort William, undulating at first, is a magnificent road.
[A new line of road was built from Tyndrum to Kingshouse in the 1930s and forms the present A82. Its original carriageway width was 18ft – the modern standard is 7.3m (24ft) plus margin strips. The old road, abandoned north of Inveroran, is now a cycle route]
Contour Road Book of England, Northern Division, 1906:
Ilkley to Aysgarth: From Ilkley the road has a very good surface all the way to Buckden, but between Addingham and Linton there are a number of steep and rather dangerous hills. Particular care will need to be taken at the very short sharp hill just before Bolton Bridge. Beyond Buckden it is a wretched road over the hill to Bishop Dale, until the foot of Kidstones Bank is reached, when it becomes a fair road to Aysgarth.
Mecredy’s Road Book of Ireland, Volume 1, 6th edition c. 1912:
Dublin to Killarney: At date of publication arrangements have been made to complete the steam-rolling of the entire road from Mallow to Killarney via Banteer, Millstreet, and Rathmore, which will then be much superior to the Cloonbannin route. The work, as it is completed, will be indicated on Mecredy’s Map of Ireland, a new edition of which, showing all the steam-rollered roads coloured blue, is published every summer.
Gap of Dunloe – There is a long walk to the top, and for 6d. the assistance of a youth can be had to push one’s machine.
Short Spins Round London, Arrowsmith & Inglis, 1906:
The Ruislip Road, Route 28: Though not the direct, this is the easiest and prettiest route [from London] to the popular cycling resort of Rickmansworth. It is a quiet lane through the heart of Middlesex, passing spots of such arcadian beauty as Perivale, Greenford, and Ruislip.
[The modern London cyclist cannot read this book without shedding a tear]
The Romford Road, Route 45: Tramlines to Chadwell Heath, and the usual bad paving – stone and wood alternating – succeeded by lumpy macadam that prevails for almost the entire length of the road. 10½ miles of streets. The route is far easier reversed, having in the forward direction a nearly continual rise to Brentwood, the last bit steep (reversed, a happy hunting ground for the local constabulary!) .
[From 1903 the rural speed limit was 20mph for both motor vehicles and cyclists, but most towns imposed a 10mph limit. ‘Scorchers’ cycling ‘furiously’ could typically attract a 5 shilling fine. In this respect, Reigate “possesses an evil reputation in its uncharitable regard for cyclists”]
Scottish Hill Path Contours, Harry R. G. Inglis, c. 1930:
The Larig Ghru, Aviemore to Braemar: Every few years a cyclist takes his bicycle to speed his journey, and although warned not to do so, invariably makes the attempt. As the bicycle has to be carried about 3 miles, it is difficult to understand why it is done.
[The Larig remains probably the toughest off-road challenge in Britain]
Gradually the Road Book developed from one primarily devoted to the condition and suitability of the road to a more general guide book of the district covered, and directly or implicitly also aimed at the ever-increasing number of motorists. Such guide books, many by local publishers, are simply too numerous to mention. I would make exception for Hugill’s Road Guide to Northumberland & the Border (1931, invaluable even today), the Roadfaring Guides by Reginald Wellbye (1913 onwards, by the former touring columnist of Cycling magazine), and the Cycle Touring Guides by Harold Briercliffe. Some of the Briercliffe guides have been republished in facsimile. Other publications which transmuted from cyclist to motorist guides (in their titles more than their content) were those by T. Throup for North Wales, Northern England and The West Country.
The Roadfaring Guides, by Reginald Wellbye, included some idiosyncratic maps, giving overall impressions of a particular district or locality – ‘pretty villages’, ‘interesting church’ etc - rather than simply aiding navigation. The books included suggested tours, a gazetteer and places with literary associations.
Books of cycling routes, generally accompanied with bespoke maps, have made a comeback since the nadir of cycling in the 1970s and 1980s, but these do not pretend to be comprehensive ‘A to B’ descriptions of inter-town routes in the manner of the original road books. Increasingly the emphasis is on ‘off-road’ routes or guides confined to specific long-distance cycle routes. There are even guides for cyclists who like to ride up hills. At the same time, the expansion of motorways and other bypass routes rendered the old-fashioned road book of little value to motorists. They have passed into history.
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