Vignettes of a Wheel Abroad
Contents
- Twenty American cyclists aged sixteen to forty-five sail from New York on the S.S. La Gascogne bound for a bicycle tour of France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium and England, introducing fellow tourists Robinson of Boston and Hobbs of Erie, PA, and enduring a rough Atlantic crossing that leaves Jackson seasick, before landing at Havre.
- After three weeks riding through Normandy and Rouen, the party glimpses the Eiffel Tower from St. Germain, spends a week sightseeing in Paris, then wheels through the forest of Fontainebleau toward the Jura Mountains, racing young Cobb to Dole for a strawberry wager and viewing Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc from a mountain summit during a night balloon ascent.
- The party rides through Switzerland by Lake Geneva, Chamonix and the Glacier des Bossons to Murren, then crosses into the Black Forest toward Freiburg and Titisee, follows the Rhine past Bingen and the Germania statue into Germany, and finishes among the canals of Rotterdam, Holland, where the group disperses to Berlin, Norway, Paris and England.
- Opens the appended promotional programme for the Elwell agency's fourth season of guided European cycling tours, describing the appeal of touring castles, palaces and cathedrals in the company of congenial fellow Americans.
- Itinerary for the men's tour: departing New York in June aboard La Bretagne for Havre, then riding via Sens, Tonnerre, Dijon, Dole and the Jura to Geneva, on through Chamonix, Interlaken, the Rigi and Lucerne, and down the Rhine past the Falls of the Rhine to Cologne.
- Describes the newly added tour for women cyclists, noting their growing numbers, its smaller party size and gentler daily distances, sailing via the Royal Netherlands line to Boulogne and following a Switzerland route through Lausanne, Berne, Thun, Interlaken and the Giesbach Falls to Lucerne, Zurich and the Falls of the Rhine.
- States that Elwell touring parties average about thirty-five miles a day, prioritising sightseeing over covering ground, with ample time to complete each day's run without fatigue.
- Explains that the tour books the best and most centrally located hotels near each city's principal sights, with each guest's room pre-assigned on arrival for convenience.
- Quotes guidebook writer Thomas W. Knox on European travel budgets and sets the Gentlemen's Tour price at $350 for seventy-five days and the Ladies' Tour at $310 (or $260 without a return ticket), with deposit terms and a testimonial letter from past tourist B. R. Goodrich of Girard, Ohio.
- Practical packing advice for tour members covering clothing and bicycle suits, Lamson luggage carriers, ladies' touring outfits, Kodak cameras, passports and personal funds, and the labels needed to ship a crated bicycle to New York.