Cycling in Bengal

By W. S. Burke189841 chapters32 images

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Contents

• Preface (opens in a new tab)

  Burke explains the book covers nearly two thousand miles of Bengal road, aims to encourage local cyclists to take up touring given the region's good roads, dak bungalows and rail/river links, and states every route described comes from his own personal riding experience.
• Chapter I. The Advantages of Touring (opens in a new tab)

  Burke rebuts the common claim that cycle touring is impracticable in India, arguing a bicycle covers ground faster and cheaper than walking or keeping a horse, and that touring lets Europeans confined to the Presidency towns actually see the country and its people instead of retiring home in ignorance of it.
• Chapter II. Care of the Machine (opens in a new tab)

  Practical maintenance advice before and during a tour: checking wheel bearings and crank axle, cleaning and graphite-dressing the chain daily, watching for loose spokes and pedals, and the particular hazard of leaving a machine to an untrained syce or bearer who may strip its nickel plating or loosen its nuts.
• Chapter III. What to Take (opens in a new tab)

  A packing list for tours near and far from the railway: cycling shoes, Cawnpore twill shirts and flannel underwear, a handlebar-mounted kit bag with knife, brandy flask, tea, sugar and Chlorodyne, plus tools, copper wire, lubricant and a lamp, the whole outfit meant to weigh under thirteen pounds.
• Chapter IV. Calcutta to Burdwan (opens in a new tab)

  A route description for the run from Calcutta to Burdwan along the Grand Trunk Road, with distances, road surface notes and train fare information for cyclists wanting to combine riding with a rail return.
• Chapter V. Burdwan to Barakar (opens in a new tab)

  Continues the Grand Trunk Road tour from Burdwan to Barakar, with the printed Distance/Road/Accommodation/Trains/Fares data block giving practical touring details for this stage of the Calcutta-to-Benares route.
• Chapter VI. Barakar to Dehree-on-Sone (opens in a new tab)

  The next stage of the Grand Trunk Road tour, from Barakar through to Dehree-on-Sone, with road and dak bungalow accommodation notes for cyclists continuing westward toward Allahabad.
• Chapter VII. Dehree-on-Sone to Allahabad (opens in a new tab)

  Completes the long Grand Trunk Road run from Calcutta as far as Allahabad, covering the Dehree-on-Sone to Allahabad stage with its road conditions and rest-house facilities.
• Chapter VIII. Delhi to Allahabad (opens in a new tab)

  A separate long-distance route from Delhi south to Allahabad, giving cyclists an alternative touring option away from the main Calcutta road, with distances and accommodation along the way.
• Chapter IX. Round about Calcutta (opens in a new tab)

  Describes several loop rides close to the city without separate printed sub-headings: through Ballygunge, Tollygunge and Chetla; via Budge-Budge through Garden Reach; and out to Dum-Dum and Barrackpore, with turn-by-turn directions and warnings about specific unpleasant stretches near Kalighat Road.
• Chapter X. Short Runs from Calcutta (opens in a new tab)

  Introduces a set of shorter day-trip roads within about thirty miles of Calcutta suitable for a return by train in hot weather; the six named runs that follow are catalogued individually below.
• Diamond Harbour (opens in a new tab)

  A thirty-mile run to Diamond Harbour via Alipore and the Budge Budge railway bridge, noted as usually shunned by Calcutta cyclists for no good reason, passing the villages of Bela, Saker Bazaar and Boonser Bela and an interesting old cemetery near the Ghaut.
• Joynugger, Culpee and Port Canning (opens in a new tab)

  Three linked destinations reached via Ballygunge and Baruipore: Joynugger (32 miles), a large bazaar town near the old bed of the Ganges; Culpee (46 miles); and Port Canning (30 miles), the derelict remains of Ferdinand Schiller's failed 1864 scheme to build a rival port to Calcutta.
• Kanchraparah (opens in a new tab)

  A 28-mile ride via Barrackpore to Kanchraparah on the East Bengal State Railway, passing the Government powder factory at Ichapur, a ruined Maratha-era fort near Samnugger, and Bengal's only cycle track at Kanchraparah itself.
• Busseerhaut (opens in a new tab)

  A rough 45-mile run through Dum-Dum to Baraset and beyond, explicitly recommended only to riders with no regard for their machines given the poor road, with a suggestion to hire a ticca gharry to follow and collect the pieces.
• Juggutbulluvpur (opens in a new tab)

  A 17-mile run from Howrah alongside the Howrah-Amta Steam Tramway to Juggutbulluvpur, recommended as a cold-weather outing combined with snipe shooting, with tiffin and a gun sent ahead by train.
• Sheakhala (opens in a new tab)

  A run of about 19.5 miles alongside the Howrah-Sheakhala Tramway on a road that is much cut up in places, arranged so as to include roughly eleven miles of the tramway road via Telkul Ghaut.
• Chapter XI. Calcutta to Khoolna (opens in a new tab)

  A route south-east from Calcutta to Khoolna, with the standard Distance/Road/Trains/Fares data and directions for this stretch of Bengal touring country.
• Chapter XII. Some Central Bengal Roads (opens in a new tab)

  A miscellany of shorter central Bengal roads described in running prose rather than under separate headings: Chogdah to Bongong, Kissengunge to Jessore via Kotchandpore (46 miles, through the sugar-refining town of Kotchandpore), Jessore to Pubna (62 miles, partly cutcha and crossing the Ganges near Pubna), and Chooadangah to Jhenidah (22.5 miles, past the Sindoorie and Nagarbatham indigo factories).
• Chapter XIII. Calcutta to Cuttack (opens in a new tab)

  A 261-mile route from Calcutta to Cuttack in Orissa, with fares given for the connecting stretch on to Chandbally and Balasore, one of the longer tours described in the book.
• Chapter XIV. Moorshedabad to Calcutta (opens in a new tab)

  A route running back from Moorshedabad to Calcutta, giving cyclists an option for the return leg of a northern Bengal tour along the Bhagirathi river districts.
• Chapter XV. Synthia to Deoghur (opens in a new tab)

  A route from the railway junction at Synthia to the pilgrimage town of Deoghur, with the customary distance, road and accommodation details for this cross-country run.
• Chapter XVI. Dacca to Chittagong (opens in a new tab)

  A roughly 96-mile route from Dacca to the port town of Chittagong, one of the longer eastern Bengal tours, with road and dak bungalow notes for the run down toward the coast.
• Chapter XVII. Purulia to Ranchi (opens in a new tab)

  A 75-mile run from Purulia station to the hill town of Ranchi, praised for its bracing cold-weather climate from October to February; the chapter's introduction also outlines onward rides from Ranchi to Hazaribagh, Giridih and Chakardharpur, each catalogued as its own entry below.
• Ranchi to Hazaribagh (opens in a new tab)

  A scenic run often completed in under six hours despite numerous hills, featuring an eight-mile, nearly 1,000-foot coast down toward Ramgarh where the Damuda river is crossed by ferry in the rains or forded in the cold weather.
• Hazaribagh to Giridih (opens in a new tab)

  A metalled run passing near the Jain temple mountain of Paresnath down to Giridih, with a detailed stage table of rest-houses from Ormanji through Chutu Palu, Ramgarh, Kuju and Mandu, one of the best dak bungalows in Bengal being at Barrakar.
• Ranchi to Chakardharpur (opens in a new tab)

  An unexplored-by-cyclists 72-mile route with varied, pretty scenery but a chief difficulty of food supply, listing rest-houses at Kalamati, Khunti, Mundhu, Bangaon, Hesadi, Tebo and Nakti before reaching the Chakardharpur railway station.
• Chapter XVIII. Caragola Ghat to Darjeeling (opens in a new tab)

  The old 210-mile cart road to Darjeeling, now little used since the N. B. S. Railway opened, described cautiously as unexplored by the author but detailed via Caragola's ferry crossing of the Ganges, Purneah, and the climb from Silliguri through Sookna and Ghoom.
• The Cooch-Behar District (opens in a new tab)

  Notes that the Cooch-Behar State offers little of interest to wheelmen beyond a few stretches near its larger stations, mentioning a possibly-worth-exploring road through Rungpore and Dinagepore and listing dak bungalows at Rungpore, Dinagepore, Dowlutpore and Kuriagram.
• Indian Cycling Records (opens in a new tab)

  A table of Bengal cycling records compiled to October 1898, led by H. E. Bryning's 1-mile bicycle record of 2 min 29.2 sec and including W. S. Burke and A. J. Millwood's own 507-mile, five-day cushion-tyre ride from Allahabad to Calcutta in October 1892.
• Cycling Clubs in Calcutta (opens in a new tab)

  Lists the cycling clubs active in Calcutta and their headquarters, including the Calcutta Rangers on the Maidan, the Y.M.C.A. club, Howrah United, Chowringhee and the native Pickwick club at Utterpara.
• The Bengal Cyclists' Association (opens in a new tab)

  Sets out the Association's seven objects, from securing cyclists' legal rights on public roads and pushing for better road maintenance to examining amateur racing rules and supplying touring information; Stanley Oakes is named as Honorary Secretary.
• Cycle Importers and Repairers (opens in a new tab)

  A directory of Calcutta cycle dealers and the makes they carried, including Ahmuty & Co. (Ormonde), the Bengal Cycle Company (Braithwaite, Coventry Cross, Premier, Tiger, Champion), and agents for Rudge, Columbia, Humber, Beeston and Raleigh machines.
• Mofussil Hotels (opens in a new tab)

  Lists hotels in up-country stations mentioned in the handbook, including Lawrie's Great Northern at Agra, Allahabad and Delhi, Clark's Family Hotel at Benares, and several named hotels at Cawnpore, Chandernagore and Lucknow.
• Dak Bungalows in Bengal (opens in a new tab)

  A long tabulated gazetteer of dak bungalows across Bengal by road and district, running from the Burrakur Sanitarium and Ulubaria near Calcutta through Rungpur, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts to Dacca, Chittagong and the Grand Trunk Road stations toward Patna.
• Circuit Houses in Bengal (opens in a new tab)

  A list of towns with a government circuit house, from Angul and Arrah through Chittagong, Hazaribagh and Purulia to Rangamati, Ranchi and Puri.
• Dak Bungalow Charges (opens in a new tab)

  States the standard tariff of one rupee per 24 hours (eight annas for half a day) per person for occupying a dak bungalow, plus etiquette notes on tipping the khansamah and locking away valuables before leaving the register.
• Refreshment Tariff (opens in a new tab)

  Itemised first- and second-class meal prices at Kellner's Refreshment Rooms along the East Indian Railway, covering sandwiches, tea and coffee, breakfast, tiffin, dinner and supper, plus separate hotel board rates at Jamalpore, Allahabad and Delhi.
• Abstract of Railway Rules and Rates (opens in a new tab)

  Summarises East Indian Railway fare classes and mileage rates, Madras-time station-clock offsets, servant-ticket rules, journey-breaking allowances for tickets over 100 miles, and the free luggage weight allowance before a bicycle is charged extra.
• A Few "Tips" (opens in a new tab)

  A list of practical touring maxims: learn to strip and reassemble the machine before starting, oil only the hubs/bracket/pedals sparingly, keep the chain washed in kerosene and re-oiled, and use the wheel-diameter/chainwheel/hub-ring formula given for calculating a machine's gear.
• E. B. S. R. and E. I. R. Local Time Tables (opens in a new tab)

  Local passenger timetables for the Eastern Bengal State Railway (Sealdah to Kanchrapara) and the East Indian Railway (Howrah to Burdwan), giving up and down train times for each intermediate station.