Synopsis
Two Shillings a Day
In July 1897, Thomas Hiram Holding, a London tailor with much experience of boating, cycling and camping, designs a tiny lightweight tent, having had the idea for fifteen years. He and three friends trial a three-day trip in Ireland carrying the tent, cooking equipment and other supplies on their heavy steel single-geared bicycles over unpaved roads. All four sleep in the six-by-six-foot space, using candles for light, bathing and washing in rivers, and of course wearing woollen suits.
The four visit castles, churches, historic ruins, standing stones and a cave, and come across the Ordnance Survey at work. They try unsuccessfully to obtain buttermilk from farmhouses which clearly have it. One suffers a puncture from a ginger beer wire, another has a valve damaged which requires a blacksmith’s help. Two of the four bicycles turn out to be very unsuited to touring and Holding has much to say about the inefficiencies of this unusual cycle design. Rain makes roads into deep slippery mortar-like mud, with ridges of sharp broken stone. A strong wind “in its spiral peregrinations twisted fine granite in wild waves and blew them upon us” as they ride, reducing their speed to four miles per hour. They are given incorrect distances by the locals; “this, of course, everyone who has toured in Ireland has found out for himself before today.” They encounter donkeys with huge baskets of peat, horse-drawn mailcars doubling as local buses, and note that farmhouses are sometimes shared with cattle.
Holding cooks full breakfasts of coffee, oatmeal, eggs and bacon for four men on a tiny campstove. To add to their lunches they buy hot potatoes from houses along the road, baskets of them being a common sight at 1pm, and they buy eggs and hire extra blankets from nearby houses in the evenings.
Before pitching their first-ever camp, in a farmer’s field, they are first required to help fork hay into haycocks for an hour. They find a sheltered corner in accordance with Holding’s long list of requirements for a camping site, spread hay under the groundsheet, fit the custom-made wooden poles together and tie clove hitches (Holding provides illustrated instructions) to peg out the tent.
How to stay dry, wash utensils, operate campstoves, make a candle-holder for tent lighting and get on amicably without conflict are all described in detail, as well as thoughts on tin openers and cattle, economics and the deficiencies of hotels, weather prediction and much more. Holding expounds on the advantages of this new way in which everyone can now travel and enjoy an affordable holiday in the country.
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 London tailor with much experience of boating, cycling and camping, designs a tiny lightweight tent, having had the idea for fifteen years. He and three friends trial a three-day trip in Ireland carrying the tent, cooking equipment and other supplies on their heavy steel single-geared bicycles over unpaved roads. All four sleep in the six-by-six-foot space, using candles for light, bathing and washing in rivers, and of course wearing woollen suits.
The four visit castles, churches, historic ruins, standing stones and a cave, and come across the Ordnance Survey at work. They try unsuccessfully to obtain buttermilk from farmhouses which clearly have it. One suffers a puncture from a ginger beer wire, another has a valve damaged which requires a blacksmith’s help. Two of the four bicycles turn out to be very unsuited to touring and Holding has much to say about the inefficiencies of this unusual cycle design. Rain makes roads into deep slippery mortar-like mud, with ridges of sharp broken stone. A strong wind “in its spiral peregrinations twisted fine granite in wild waves and blew them upon us” as they ride, reducing their speed to four miles per hour. They are given incorrect distances by the locals; “this, of course, everyone who has toured in Ireland has found out for himself before today.” They encounter donkeys with huge baskets of peat, horse-drawn mailcars doubling as local buses, and note that farmhouses are sometimes shared with cattle.
Holding cooks full breakfasts of coffee, oatmeal, eggs and bacon for four men on a tiny campstove. To add to their lunches they buy hot potatoes from houses along the road, baskets of them being a common sight at 1pm, and they buy eggs and hire extra blankets from nearby houses in the evenings.
Before pitching their first-ever camp, in a farmer’s field, they are first required to help fork hay into haycocks for an hour. They find a sheltered corner in accordance with Holding’s long list of requirements for a camping site, spread hay under the groundsheet, fit the custom-made wooden poles together and tie clove hitches (Holding provides illustrated instructions) to peg out the tent.
How to stay dry, wash utensils, operate campstoves, make a candle-holder for tent lighting and get on amicably without conflict are all described in detail, as well as thoughts on tin openers and cattle, economics and the deficiencies of hotels, weather prediction and much more. Holding expounds on the advantages of this new way in which everyone can now travel and enjoy an affordable holiday in the country.
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.
