Synopsis
Two Shillings a Day
In July 1897, Thomas Hiram Holding, a 52-year-old camping and cycling enthusiast with decades of experience, designs a tiny tent weighing 2.5 lbs to be carried on a bicycle. He’s had this idea for fifteen years. He and three of his regular sailing and camping companions decide to attempt the world’s first cycle camping trip during their sailing holiday in Ireland the following month.
Holding and his friends Beauchamp and Little Billie, and his son Frank, set off with single-geared bikes on a three-day trip from their base camp at Lough Conn in County Mayo. Cycling through Castlebar, Westport, Leenane, Cong, Ballinrobe and back to Lough Conn is about 135 hilly miles. Within the first few miles, Holding notices that Beauchamp and Little Billie on their Bantams [an odd chainless front wheel-drive bicycle made in the early 1890s] are very slow. He elaborates upon the many faults of this machine, but emphasises the importance of not letting such differences cause a clash on any sort of expedition, and to “act determinedly on being eternally agreeable.”
Frank’s tyre is punctured by a ginger beer wire on the first day, and later a damaged valve on Holding’s bike needs mending by a blacksmith. The weather, too, causes trouble: on the way to Leenane a sudden strong headwind “in its spiral peregrinations twisted fine granite in wild waves and blew them upon us,” reducing their speed to just four miles per hour. Rain on the third day turns roads, all unpaved of course, into deep slimy mud between ridges of sharp stone.
Their debut camp is in a farmer’s field, after agreeing a payment of 1s 1d, and after volunteering to help with the hay for an hour. The ground sheet is placed over a layer of fine hay, the tent pegged out, the two poles jointed together and guylines tied with clove hitches. The tent walls are tucked under the ground sheet. The campstove and little tins containing butter, jam, sugar, fruit, salt and pepper are placed at one corner.
How to cook breakfast of coffee, porridge, bacon, eggs and potatoes for four on a small campstove is described in detail, as well as the washing of greasy pans and plates using mud, sand, weeds, etc. For their lunches, they buy potatoes seen cooling in large round baskets in front of cottages at 1pm every day. Holding considers “new milk” no good for cycling, but they find people often unwilling to provide buttermilk, their preferred drink, as it’s not believed that Englishmen could possibly like it.
Holding argues the many advantages of camping over hotels: “a bit more work, yet… the freedom of the life, its jollity, the independence it gives are incomparably superior to anything the Hotel can offer.” A hotel tour might cost more than 70 shillings a week, whereas two men camping with bicycles spend about two shillings per day each. “Let these tariffs no longer stop the poorer cycle man from his rightful feast of fresh air and the grandest scenery his country offers.” Non-campers he speaks with assume they’ll be wet when it rains, but Holding has kept dry 95 out of 100 times.
The four visit churches, stone circles, castles, ancient ruins, standing stones, historic monuments, the grounds of stately homes, and a stream inside a cave; they pass a massive encampment of the Ordnance Survey at work. They observe people’s living space shared with cattle. They meet donkeys carrying peat and straw, and a horse-drawn cart taking a huge piano up a mountain road. Throughout his narrative, Holding has much to say about international trade, tin openers, mail-coaches, gaps in hedges, the difficulty of receiving proper directions, church architecture and a great deal more.
Extensive practical advice is offered, such as the importance of camping near water for bathing. Holding gives pros and cons of linen vs cotton for tent material, provides a pattern to sew one’s own, describes how poles should be made, how to tie knots, how to make a pillow. He uses drawings to explain operation of the double-wick campstove with its heat-regulating water chamber, and his simple chandelier: “For lighting purposes, candles must be used, not oil.” He gives details on fuel, eating utensils, where to get good tins, how to carry cooked fruit and bread, and how to pack efficiently.
Arriving back at their base camp in the evening of the third day, all are very pleased with the success of their experiment. “We predicted poor men would see new country on two wheels, and young poorly-paid clerks wandering over possibly new countries, happy and free on their bicycles.”
NOTE:
Two Shillings a Day is a faithful adaption of Holding’s book Cycle and Camp written about this pioneering adventure. Holding's own language — idiosyncratic, didactic and a little tongue-in-cheek — is used exclusively; not one word has been added.
Two Shillings a Day
In July 1897, Thomas Hiram Holding, a 52-year-old camping and cycling enthusiast with decades of experience, designs a tiny tent weighing 2.5 lbs to be carried on a bicycle. He’s had this idea for fifteen years. He and three of his regular sailing and camping companions decide to attempt the world’s first cycle camping trip during their sailing holiday in Ireland the following month.
Holding and his friends Beauchamp and Little Billie, and his son Frank, set off with single-geared bikes on a three-day trip from their base camp at Lough Conn in County Mayo. Cycling through Castlebar, Westport, Leenane, Cong, Ballinrobe and back to Lough Conn is about 135 hilly miles. Within the first few miles, Holding notices that Beauchamp and Little Billie on their Bantams [an odd chainless front wheel-drive bicycle made in the early 1890s] are very slow. He elaborates upon the many faults of this machine, but emphasises the importance of not letting such differences cause a clash on any sort of expedition, and to “act determinedly on being eternally agreeable.”
Frank’s tyre is punctured by a ginger beer wire on the first day, and later a damaged valve on Holding’s bike needs mending by a blacksmith. The weather, too, causes trouble: on the way to Leenane a sudden strong headwind “in its spiral peregrinations twisted fine granite in wild waves and blew them upon us,” reducing their speed to just four miles per hour. Rain on the third day turns roads, all unpaved of course, into deep slimy mud between ridges of sharp stone.
Their debut camp is in a farmer’s field, after agreeing a payment of 1s 1d, and after volunteering to help with the hay for an hour. The ground sheet is placed over a layer of fine hay, the tent pegged out, the two poles jointed together and guylines tied with clove hitches. The tent walls are tucked under the ground sheet. The campstove and little tins containing butter, jam, sugar, fruit, salt and pepper are placed at one corner.
How to cook breakfast of coffee, porridge, bacon, eggs and potatoes for four on a small campstove is described in detail, as well as the washing of greasy pans and plates using mud, sand, weeds, etc. For their lunches, they buy potatoes seen cooling in large round baskets in front of cottages at 1pm every day. Holding considers “new milk” no good for cycling, but they find people often unwilling to provide buttermilk, their preferred drink, as it’s not believed that Englishmen could possibly like it.
Holding argues the many advantages of camping over hotels: “a bit more work, yet… the freedom of the life, its jollity, the independence it gives are incomparably superior to anything the Hotel can offer.” A hotel tour might cost more than 70 shillings a week, whereas two men camping with bicycles spend about two shillings per day each. “Let these tariffs no longer stop the poorer cycle man from his rightful feast of fresh air and the grandest scenery his country offers.” Non-campers he speaks with assume they’ll be wet when it rains, but Holding has kept dry 95 out of 100 times.
The four visit churches, stone circles, castles, ancient ruins, standing stones, historic monuments, the grounds of stately homes, and a stream inside a cave; they pass a massive encampment of the Ordnance Survey at work. They observe people’s living space shared with cattle. They meet donkeys carrying peat and straw, and a horse-drawn cart taking a huge piano up a mountain road. Throughout his narrative, Holding has much to say about international trade, tin openers, mail-coaches, gaps in hedges, the difficulty of receiving proper directions, church architecture and a great deal more.
Extensive practical advice is offered, such as the importance of camping near water for bathing. Holding gives pros and cons of linen vs cotton for tent material, provides a pattern to sew one’s own, describes how poles should be made, how to tie knots, how to make a pillow. He uses drawings to explain operation of the double-wick campstove with its heat-regulating water chamber, and his simple chandelier: “For lighting purposes, candles must be used, not oil.” He gives details on fuel, eating utensils, where to get good tins, how to carry cooked fruit and bread, and how to pack efficiently.
Arriving back at their base camp in the evening of the third day, all are very pleased with the success of their experiment. “We predicted poor men would see new country on two wheels, and young poorly-paid clerks wandering over possibly new countries, happy and free on their bicycles.”
NOTE:
Two Shillings a Day is a faithful adaption of Holding’s book Cycle and Camp written about this pioneering adventure. Holding's own language — idiosyncratic, didactic and a little tongue-in-cheek — is used exclusively; not one word has been added.
