CTC Gazette, Vol 1914, No 9
Articles in this issue
- Headed 'To Our Members', the editor explains that the Gazette is considerably reduced in size this month because the outbreak of war has affected advertising revenue, but assures readers this does not mean a corresponding cut in reading matter since the missing pages were mostly ones that would have carried advertisements.
- The Club sets out a scheme for members unable to join the Army, Territorial Force or Cyclists' Battalions to register for either Class A (Home Defence, full-time duties such as despatch riding, patrol work and guarding stores) or Class B (Non-Military National Service, part-time lighter duties), noting the War Office's reply that no offers can be considered until the new army is raised, and prints a registration form asking for name, age, occupation, cycling/motor-cycling status, physical disabilities and military training.
- By 'The Wanderer'. Reviews two new Homeland Handbooks (No. 83 on Falmouth, Truro and the River Fal by J. Lee Osborn, and one on Bexhill-on-Sea by A. H. Anderson) plus a 'Harpenden' Homeland Handy Guide, notes Gall & Inglis's new Graded Road Maps of the Lake District and of Inverness, Speyside and the Caledonian Canal and an Ordnance Survey map of Dorking and Leith Hill, and describes the new 'Dumolite' motor-cycle rear lamp put on the market by A. J. Dew & Co. of Endell Street, London.
- Gives September lighting-up times and moon phases, then carries a vivid unsigned account of members caught touring in Germany at the outbreak of war who fled via Eutin, Lübeck, Hamburg, Osnabrück, Bentheim, Rotterdam and the Hook of Holland to reach Harwich; also includes Swiss touring notes on Hospenthal versus Andermatt and the snowbound Furka and Grimsel passes, a Connemara query about climbing the Twelve Pins and Letterfrack (signed J. K. B.), a hotel recommendation for Ober-Rickenbach in the Swiss Alps, replies on cycling routes around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, and further lodging recommendations across Britain and in Copenhagen.
- A touring account of Bangor's ancient cathedral (founded by Deiniol the Elder) and the City Hotel, the Menai Suspension Bridge and Anglesey Column, and Beaumaris with its castle -- held for King Charles before surrendering to General Mytton in 1648 -- and Penrhyn Castle near Bethesda.
- By Alan R. Haig-Brown. Argues the ordinary bicycle outdoes the car and motor-cycle in the West Highlands, where sheep and pony tracks let a cyclist reach remote fishing lochs and moors beyond road's end, and discusses shipping or hiring a machine when touring north of Inverness, where bicycle shops are scarce.
- A party of twelve ladies and nine men tour from Feldkirch and Bludenz over the Arlberg to Innsbruck, cross the Brenner Pass to Sterzing and Bruneck, pass through Toblach and the Dolomites to Cortina, cross the Falzarego, Pordoi and Karer passes to Bozen, then cross the snowbound Stelvio Pass (thirteen of the party opting for carriages) to Bormio and Tirano, continuing via the Bernina, St Moritz and the Julier Pass to Thusis and Zurich, covering about 450 miles.
- By J. F. Ashby, LL.M.; subtitled 'I.--The Pyrenees'. Describes a party sailing from London to Bordeaux and cycling through Dax, Orthez and Pau to the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, then on to the Chaos, Gavarnie and its Cirque, the Gorge de Luz, and Bagnères de Bigorre, ending 'to be continued' as the party entrains for Carcassonne.
- Club noticeboard of touring contacts, including Bristol and Gloucestershire and Bournemouth Chief Consuls offering to arrange local runs, a Lincolnshire appeal to members near Hull, a public-school man seeking a companion for a fortnight's walking tour abroad, a motor-cycling member wanting a companion for a September holiday, and four members planning a lazy fortnight on the Brittany coast via St Malo or Granville.
- Reviews a new plated electric rear lamp from Easti & Sons of Clapton Common, designed for motor-cycles with sidecars but equally suited to pedal cycles, describing its facetted red rear lens, white side number-plate light, three-cell dry battery case and twelve-hour bulb life.
- On photographing 'The Harvest Field', advising on avoiding perspective distortion of carts and horses, using a wider aperture (f.11 or f.8) to soften backgrounds, balancing clouds and furrows in composition, and using orthochromatic plates with a fast exposure to catch harvesters and hop-pickers unposed.
- Letters cover A. W. Rumney's update on Auto-Wheel improvements from the New Sultan Engineering Co., a complaint (No. 5336) that Lucas has discontinued its Toura No. 10 front carrier, eighteen years' satisfaction with self-sealing air tubes recalling a 1895 puncture in the far north of Scotland (No. 3932), a member nearing seventy crediting cycling for his health, a query (signed 'Novice') weighing the Rudge-Whitworth Aero Special, Lea-Francis and Dursley-Pedersen against his Special Campion, technical notes on pedal-spindle bearing screw threads and spring-fork brakes, and, after Official Notices, an account (No. 10737) of improvised luggage-carrying on a Baltic cycling tour cut short by the outbreak of war and a query about fitting a cushion tyre to a Westwood wired rim.
- Announces the Half-Yearly General Meeting and the procedure for October's election of Chief Consuls for 1915, lists counties still needing Chief Consuls, details the C.T.C. insurance schemes for cyclists, auto-wheelists and motor-cyclists, advertises the British Road Books, Alpine Profile Road Book and Universal Map Measurer, and explains how the Rights and Privileges Committee assists members pursuing road-accident claims.
- Reports the Bristol Branch of the Roads Improvement Association's campaign against advertisement hoardings and for road works near Wotton-under-Edge and Ashton railway bridge, a Bristol and Gloucestershire garden party at Captain Streeten's, and runs programmes from Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and other associations; the Metropolitan D.A. records the death of member S. F. Plimsoll, killed after his cycle caught in tram lines at Acton.
- Roll of new full, family and life-membership candidates proposed for September 1914, listed by county from Berkshire to the West Riding of Yorkshire, with entries from Ireland, the United States and the British Colonies.