Cycle and Camp
Contents
- The author explains how a chance meeting with a friend rekindled a long-held plan to tour Ireland by bicycle with a portable camping outfit.
- Argues that camping is cheap, healthy and far from lazy, offering "exercise without fatigue" and fresh air night and day, in contrast to a holiday of hotel loafing.
- The party pitches two tents on the shore of Lough Cullin in Co. Mayo and introduces the four travellers, Beauchamp, Frank, Little Billie and the Skipper, with a wry aside on the prevailing Irish south-west wind.
- The four riders divide tent, poles, waterproofs and bags between their machines, wrestle their pneumatics along a boulder-strewn lake-shore track, and reach Foxford Bridge and Lough Conn; a long digression compares the Bantam with the modern Safety bicycle.
- The cyclists ride through County Mayo, crossing the Moy, a river that runs in two opposite directions ten miles apart, and inspecting Ballylahon Castle, with reflections on Irish agriculture and emigration.
- The group explores Westport, visits its harbour and a Roman Catholic chapel, then debates the best road onward towards Leenane.
- Delayed by punctures and concern for equipment left at Foxford, the cyclists adjust their Connemara route and endure a stormy night under canvas.
- Leaving Maam, the party rides past Lough Corrib and 'Castle Kirk', with an extended digression on the warrior queen Grace O'Malley.
- Four men squeeze into a two-pound tent pitched by leave of a Mayo farmer near Lough Carra, bathe in the lake's white sand shallows, then ride through Castlebar to the round tower and abbey at Strade before returning to base camp.
- Three of the party attempt to climb the Nephin mountain, prompting reflections on the deceptive labour and frequent disappointment of mountaineering.
- The tour continues north through County Mayo and Sligo, following the complex river system of the Moy through bogland and upland scenery.
- Detailed advice on choosing and pitching a camp site, illustrated with cautionary anecdotes of poorly sited tents on the Thames and Shannon.
- Discusses the cyclist-camper's dietary needs, listing common errors in food and drink and the importance of appetite as a measure of healthy exercise.
- Describes the lightweight portable tent used on the tour…its dimensions, materials, and versatility for cycling, canoeing, and Alpine expeditions.
- Step-by-step illustrated instructions for constructing the cycle tent and all camping gear, drawn from articles originally published in the Boys' Own Paper.