 6. Assuming good health and ordinary strength, the bicycle unquestionably gives the best means for enjoying a European trip that is undertaken chiefly for sightseeing. If there were truth and a common notion that the only important object in going to Europe should be to see beautiful buildings, art galleries, and other travelers, the tourists would have slight use for the bicycle, as all these things are to be seen mainly in the cities. But the fact is that the rural districts are the more delightful. The people of the towns and villages are the more interesting, and of course real scenery is rustic, so touring by bicycle gives more pleasure and added profit while fostering health. Even in the cities, the wheel has its advantages, for abroad as well as at home it is a time saver, and you can see far more of the externals of a place in one morning with a bicycle than by tramping about for two or three days. But it is injuring across country that the great gain comes, for only in such travel, whether on a wheel, in a carriage, or a foot, do you learn how the people live and what they are. Compared with the pedestrian tour, that by wheel has the advantage of saving a great deal of time, the disadvantage of hurrying past some scenery that should be taken slowly. But he who wisely walks up all the slopes, rests at charming viewpoints, and makes of his journey a jaunt rather than a task, will find that he has missed little by which the pedestrian would have profited. The wheel-men can travel as cheap as the pedestrian, and much cheaper than the rail-tourist, because with convenience he can stop at smaller towns, where hotel bills are always smaller than in the cities, though the accommodations often have more real comfort. He has no railroad tickets to buy, no cabs to hire, and he has the great advantage of arriving at hotels without the flourish that invites high charges, under circumstances that permit his easy departure for another hostelry, if the rates and appearance of the first he tries do not suit him. Leaving out clothing, mementos, and presents, he can tour comfortably in Great Britain for $3 a day, and on the continent for $2.50 a day. Without great hardship, he can reduce these figures a quarter. By increasing them a quarter, he can have more luxury than suits the ordinary wheel-men. For, as a rule, a lover of outdoor sports prefers plain substantial food, and for his room demands little more than a comfortable bed. Women can make a bicycle tour as economically as men, and most of them spend less, often going by preference to lodgings rather than to hotels, being less lavish with fees, and paying less for what they eat, still less for what they drink. It is not uncommon for women to make bicycle tours abroad as an expenditure averaging not more than $1.50 for the living expenses. They can tour with perfect safety and freedom anywhere in Great Britain, even singly, for many English women ride the wheel unaccompanied and attract no comment. But I should hesitate to counsel any young woman to ride alone on the continent, for I fear she would occasionally be exposed to insult, and continually to unpleasant curiosity. Continental women rarely ride without escort. Two or more American wheel-men might ride through Central Europe without a single unpleasant experience, but accidents would doubtless be more serious to them than to men, and ignorance of the language more embarrassing. The wheel-man who has the good fortune of the company of one of the other sex is to be congratulated, not only for the additional pleasure of the best of companionship, but also because he will, perforce, resist the temptation to ride too fast, and too far. He will, in any event, do well not to ride alone. For, if unaccompanied, he is likely to ride too soon after eating, to pedal faster than he ought, and to have tediously lonesome hours. For two to six people can advantageously tour together, more than that number will find the usual drawbacks of an excursion party, and maybe sometimes bothered by the scarcity of good rooms and village ends. The pace, too, seldom suits the capacities or the preference of all. Personally conducted bicycle tours are offered by the tourist agencies and by others. They differ little in advantage and disadvantage from other traveling of this sort. Whether it pays to take a bicycle, if most of the traveling is to be done by rail, is a question most wheel-men would answer in the negative. But I have met bicycle introsists who say they would take a wheel on any but the most hasty tour. With well-to-do English people, the bicycle has come to be almost as essential a part of the traveling outfit, as the tin bathtub that amuses the Yankees so much. In London I chanced for a while to be staying near one of the great railway stations, and was struck with the large number of wheels I saw on the tops of the Hansams and cabs going to and from the trains. By the way, don't speak of wheels abroad. You won't be understood. In English it is your bike. In France, votre bicyclette. The transportation of wheels by a train or cab is no more bothersome abroad than that of a trunk. In Great Britain it is more costly, on parts of the continent, trifling. But when bicycles become baggage they are as bothersome as any other baggage, and that is no mild statement. They may be a convenience in getting to and from hotels, but the rail tourist seldom is attired in a fashion that makes bicycle riding pleasant, which suggests what is really the worst feature of taking a wheel along as an accessory, the fact that your attire, your luggage, and your plans do not fit in with its habitual use. On the other hand, the best feature of having it is the chance it gives for seeing suburbs, for excursions into the country, and for recreation. Touring Clubs If you are not already a member of the League of American Wheelmen, join it as soon as you have made up your mind to tour abroad. Apart from the pleasure it should give every American Wheelman and Wheel Woman to cooperate in the cause of good roads and just legislation, is the benefit to be derived from its alliance with the cyclist's Touring Club of Great Britain, commonly known as the CTC, just as the American Club is called the LAW and the Touring Club de France, the TCF. Membership in all these clubs is open to men and women alike, and the formalities are very simple. The blank application for membership in the LAW will be furnished by Abbott Bassett, Secretary, 530 Atlantic Avenue, Boston. Return it to him with $2, being $1 for the initiation fee, $0.75 for annual dues, and $0.25 for the official organ of the League. Your membership card, as is also the case with that of the CTC or the TCF, will be sent where you may direct, so that if you apply for membership in any one of these organizations, too late for the card to reach you before you sail, it can be addressed to you in care of your banker at London or Paris, a Liverpool or Southampton, or any other hotel, or the post-Rustant dinner delivery anywhere. LAW members can enjoy all the useful rights and privileges of CTC members with no extra charge, save that they must pay to shillings for the invaluable CTC handbook, which the CTC supplies to its own members, Grottis. The LAW's Secretary will on applications send a CTC badge, which will secure hotel discounts and the other CTC benefits on the road. He is also to keep on sail the handbooks, roadbooks, itineraries, and maps at the British prices. Though it is not now essential also to join the CTC, I personally would do so, not only for the satisfaction of being a member of so important and useful an organization, but also for the sake of getting the monthly magazine sent to its members. The club has a membership of about $60,000 and is a solid, influential, and effective organization. The dues for the first year are $1.25 for subsequent years $1. For a membership application, send a stamped envelope to its chief console for the United States, Frank W. Weston, Savin Hill, Mass, whose disinterest to the labors in its behalf deserve the gratitude of all American wheelmen that profit by them. The headquarters of the club are at 47 Victoria Street, London, between the Houses of Parliament and the American Embassy. Members can there examine the books and maps on sale and get any information or advice they may desire. The club handbook contains a list of the CTC hotels, with particulars of the tariff and discount applicable to each. A key map, a list of the consoles to whom each member may apply for guidance or for information not contained in the club publications, a list of the officers, the club rules and regulations, information as to the CTC writing costume or uniform, and a list of the club tailors from whom it can be attained, hints as to touring, suggestions as to repair of cycles, table of railway rates, of sunrises and sunsets, of phases of the moon, and general information including pages for a complete diary and writing record. The CTC handbooks are published annually in time for the touring season. Of most importance is the list of hotels. Arrangements have been made with from one to three in about every village of the United Kingdom, whereby members have specified prices for all usual services, with discounts ranging up to 25%, most of them discounting two pence in the shilling, or about 17%. Computation from the values of the first hundred in the book, and they are typical, shows the net charges to average after deducting discount as follows, breakfast of tea, coffee or cocoa, with bread and butter, toast and preserve, 23 cents, same with eggs, 29 cents, same with ham and eggs, chops, steak, cold meat or fish, 36 cents, luncheon or supper of cold meat, potatoes, salad or pickles, cheese, bread and butter, 36 cents, of chopped steak or cut from hot joint, if any, potatoes, cheese, bread and butter, 40 cents, dinner of super fish, hot joints, potatoes and vegetables, sweets, cheese, bread and butter, 54 cents, single bedded room, occupied by one member, 38 cents, occupied by two members, 59 cents, double bedded room, two members, two beds, 69 cents, attendance per night, none for meals, each member, 8 cents. Add 10% for fees and you may figure out that living expenses for a member of the club will run from $1.66 to $1.93 a day according to his appetite. But though nearly all the hotels set a price on such a dinner as that specified above, as a matter of fact you will rarely get it. The hot joint was served the day before or will not be cooked till tomorrow, and you will be offered cold meat till it becomes insufferable, but you can always get a chop or steak cooked order. It is the intention of the club officials to have on the list no hotels that are not respectable and clean. In almost all the smaller places the CTC hotels are the best. The one criticism to be made of the list is that in the larger places the arrangements have been made with the commercial rather than with the family hotels, i.e. those frequented by commercial travelers rather than those accustomed to care for tourists. As the commercial traveler will support no hotel that is not comfortable and clean. There is no objection in this for wheelmen, but it is sometimes a bit awkward for wheel women, especially if unaccompanied by escort, to go to a hotel where ladies are much in the minority. As a matter of fact they will get courteous treatment, but the situation isn't pleasant. Husband and wife even will occasionally find it better to desert the CTC list and seek a hotel where women at table are the usual thing. The system of dinners at commercial hotels proved too much for me to comprehend. We were regularly debarred from the commercial dinner served at noon and made to eat by ourselves a meal that usually was cooked to order, but we learned from it that there actually are places outside London where somebody at some times under some circumstances can get a good dinner. Our previous experience had not let us so to think. The touring club de France is still larger than its British neighbor, having about 75,000 members. It is equally fortunate in the character of its membership and equally effective in its purpose to aid tourists. Americans can apply for membership to Francis S. Heseltine Esquire, 10 Tremont Street, Boston, who has his generous and philanthropic in his labors for the French club as is Mr. Weston for the British. Send him $1.50 and 25 cents more if the monthly publication. The review mensuel is wanted as it should be. Also a stamped envelope for the application blank and any information that may be desired, but remember that Mr. Heseltine, like Mr. Weston, is a busy man. The headquarters of the French club are comfortably located at number 10, plus de la Bourse, Paris, where members have access to a cycling library and will find a hospitable reception. The handbook is sent free to members as soon as they have been admitted, together with a pin and a card of identification. The hotel list and the handbook is better than the English list. In every city outside Paris, it has at least one hotel of the first class where wheel women will find no embarrassment. As French landlords are more likely than British landlords to raise their rates to foreigners, the saving through the use of the book is of even more consequence. I saved the cost of membership twice over on the first French hotel bill presented to me after I joined the TCF. The rates of the first 100 hotels for which the prices are given in the TCF book after deducting the discount averages follows breakfast, rolling coffee, tea, and or chocolate, $0.13, luncheon, as hardy as the ordinary American noon meal, $0.40, table dote, dinner, $0.52, chamber, $0.31, total $1.36, add 10% for fees and it gives precisely $1.50 a day as the cost of living expenses for touring in France as a member of the TCF. Table wine, cider, or beer, according to the custom of the region, is almost invariably included without extra charge and it is stipulated that there shall be no charge for lights or service. By comparing these figures with those given in the following chapter you will see that the TCF member saves in hotel bills more than a third of what the rail tourist ordinarily pays. I can vouch for the fact that except in the cities he goes to the best hotel in the place and in the cities he can go to a high-grade hotel if he chooses. Most of the guests in a TCF hotel I used in Paris were Americans or Englishmen paying rail tourist rates. Of course in a list comprising many hundred hotels, some are inferior, and of course the most luxurious hotels at watering places and summer resorts are not given to making such rates for anybody, but it is perfectly safe to say that with rare exceptions the best TCF hotel in each place will satisfy any American bicyclist. By the way, you need not be accompanied by a wheel in order to get the benefits of either the TCF or the CTC hotelists. A man who never mounted a wheel may, if a member of either club, get the schedule rates and therefore any European tourist may thriftily join. A member of the French club may get the same rates for his wife and children without their being members, but the CTC privileges are confined to members. Husband and wife, brother and sister should both join each club not only to avoid any question in the payment of hotel bills, but also for the custom house benefits. Perhaps the pleasantest feature of the thing is that the use of club cards saves haggling. You know in advance exactly what you are to pay. The arrangement appears to be perfectly satisfactory to landlords and if anything you get better rather than worse treatment through being known as a club member. Provided you state the fact when you enter the hotel. That is not necessary, but it is always wise. Only once did I suspect that I got a worse room and consequence, and I had no friction over the club stipulations, save in the one matter of a provision that the price of a two-bedded room is to be twice that of a room with one bed, went on the first floor and half as large again as that of the one-bedded room if higher up. Every landlord insisted on doubling the single-bedded rate no matter where the room might be, and at last they gave up trying to make them understand what they had agreed to with the club. There was, to be sure, almost invariably an over charge in the bill, but it was always cheerfully corrected when pointed out, and its regularity soon changed from a matter of annoyance to one of amusement. It is simply the continental landlord's way of having his little joke, for which you pay dearly if you don't detect the humor of it before you get away, whether you depart by wheel or train. In as much as comparatively few Frenchmen tour outside their own country, it would be a one-sided arrangement worthy TCF to exchange privileges with other clubs, and it has canceled all affiliation, such as that of the LAW with the CTC. It has its own arrangements with hotels in other continental countries, and the CTC likewise has hotel arrangements in France and elsewhere on the continent, issuing what it calls a continental handbook at a price of 36 cents. Though the French hotels and their rates are often the same for the two clubs, I should prefer to rely on membership in the French club for French hotels. To be sure, the CTC claims to have contract arrangements with 3,800 hotels in France against 2,473 of the TCF, but it stands to reason that a French club would make more intelligent discrimination than a foreign club. Elsewhere on the continent, though the books of both clubs may be used, that of the CTC is likely to be of the more benefit, for through its contract arrangements, and those made indirectly through the touring clubs of the various countries, it far surpasses the French club in the contracts and force. In Germany, for instance, the TCF membership gets reduced rates in but 27 hotels, while CTC membership gets in 2,740. In Italy, the TCF has contracts of 38, the CTC with 1,185, and the same state of affairs prevails in most of the other countries. All told, at home and abroad the CTC has direct contracts with more than 10,000 hotels. Germany, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Holland, Spain, and Sweden have prosperous clubs of their own, but membership in them is not likely to be worth a while of a member of the CTC and TCF, unless for students of others residing temporarily abroad. The foreign consuls of the LAW, any one of whom would gladly serve an American wheelman, are Felix Rohl, Lyndon Strasser, 56, SW Berlin, Germany, Joseph Pennell, 14 Buckingham Street, Strand WC London, England, Otto Mayer, 11112 Lindergrasse, Vienna, Austria, Dr. E.B. Turner, 9, Sussex Garden, London, England, Racing Representative, W.P. Purvis, 2nd Avenue Place, Southampton, England, Herbert M. Wrankler, Bedelist School, Tiverton, England, Jay White, Dairy Bond, Bushey Park Road, Rothgar Company, Dublin, Jay Lennox, Dumfries, Scotland, T. Lee Lloyd, Six Dingle Lane, Liverpool, England, H. C. Wallace, Secretary, Depols du Golf, Depp, France, Reverend Thoss, H. Orpen, Binbrook, Cambridge, England, A. Eidlitz, C. O. Schenckeren Company, Munich, Germany, Paul Ochre, 5, Rue Gustave, Sore, Paris, France, Friedrich Schlecher, Durin, Rhineland, Bonestrasse, 16, Germany, Erkohl, Abrate, Alaroro, Turin, Italy, the wheel, and its parts. American bicycles are lighter, easier, cheaper, and more graceful than those of European manufacture. They are strong enough. Those of English make are so needlessly strong that they are heavy and clumsy. There is no reason why any high-grade American wheel should not serve for a tour abroad, and every reason why it is preferable. Bicycles can be hired by the hour, day, week, or month in any European city, but hired bicycles are frequently poor bicycles. They are usually worn and treacherous. Though without great difficulty, you can hire an American wheel abroad. Better take one from here, if you plan a tour. But don't, don't, don't take one with single tube tires. I received its advice, disregarded it, and paid the penalty. I had heard of single tubes that went through Europe without a puncture, and I took the chances. In England no accident happened. But within twenty minutes after starting, on French soil, the first hobnail went through my extra heavy tire. The hobnail is a despicable invention of the evil one, admirably designed to encourage the use of profanity. It is a long tack with a broad, flat head, most commonly used in the sabbots worn by the peasants of many parts of the continent. As they stump along the roads, the tacks fall out, and then, with the imperceptible business end sticking up, they await the doomed bicyclist. In one repair shop at Tours, I saw more than a hundred the repairer had taken out of tires that spring. Six of them in a week used up all the rubber solution left in my repair kit, most of it having apparently evaporated and ruined. Then the trouble began, and it continued till we reached home. Even in a city as large as Tours, no repairer could stop a hole completely. One thought he had succeeded, brilliantly when he had fastened in a huge mushroom, wrong end up, with a cone projecting from the tire that went bumpity bump till it fell out. There wasn't a vulcanizer in France outside Paris, and the one there was in the hands of the agent of a certain American tire who would vulcanize no other. May he someday get his desserts. Hope rose when we reached London. The agent of the same American tire gave the same refusal, but sent us to a man who sold and vulcanized single tube tires. His job seemed to be a success, but on the first day out of London it proved a failure, and I limped to Liverpool, getting as much exercise from blowing up tires as from pedaling. Single tube tires are all right in the right region, with plenty of repair material at hand, and with access to repairs who can repair punctures that need vulcanizing. Elsewhere they are a vain thing for safety. In all France I could not find an ounce of the quick drying solution ordinarily sold with repair kits. In neither England nor France, outside London, did I find a repairer who understood the single tube tire. Many repairs would not even look at it, will not let it come into the shop. Don't take it to the land of hobnails and thorns and flinty roadbeds. Yet if you insist on taking the more than even chance of having your trip marred, there are three or four precautions you may be willing to accept. One is to put on a pair of the tires claimed to be puncture proof. Another is to take the heaviest tire on the market, known as an export tire, which has the wearing portion very thick. Another is to have the ordinary tires reinforced with rubber bands. It will cost you from $3 to $5 to have them put on in some English or continental repair shop. I note that correspondence of the CTC Gazette praise highly the Echo Puncture Preventing Shields, which are hogskin bands, said to be non-puncturable. The company will fit them for $3.50 a pair if you send the tires to Burkedale, England, or it will send the shields for $3.12 and it is said you can easily put them on by yourself. The most important precaution of all is to take along an extra tire in your trunk or bag, with cement enough to put it on. Single tube tires can be bought in the foreign capitals, but at twice what they cost in the States. It is the common supposition that double tube tires are not put on wooden rims, but I am told this is not the case. On the contrary, it is said that any maker will, if you insist on it, fit double tubes to your wooden rims. You can get metal wheels on most makes of bicycles and some good wheels are designed only for double tube tires. Englishmen insist that wooden rims are not suited to weather conditions abroad, but Americans do not grant this. It is entertaining and useful book, why not cycle abroad by yourself? Clarence Stetson describes a simple device used by some French riders to lessen the chance of picking up tacks or even bits of glass. They attach a little wire across the fork where the wheel turns about a sixteenth of an inch from the tire. Their argument is that the tack does not puncture the rubber when the wheel first touches it, but is picked up and does the mischief when it strikes the ground again. The wire knocks it out before this harm is done. Those who have tried it say they have never since had a puncture. It certainly will cost no wheelman anything to try it. Later in his book, Mr. Stetson describes how an Italian repairer fixed a bad puncture. Quote, over the point where the nail had entered he had glued on several layers of rubber, and over this he had wound several yards of white cloth, all of which was fastened down with a piece of red flannel. Signore Maggi explains that if the tire did not have a relapse after being ridden two or three hours, we could remove these outside bandages. He then charged us eight lira, two dollars, for his work and said good morning and prepared to receive the congratulations of all his friends, unquote. But Signore Maggi had put back the tire on the wooden rim with little or no glue, and after ten miles of riding the rubber about the valve was so badly cut as to make the tire useless. The ignorance of European repairers in the matter of gear-driven wheels kept me from taking a chainless wheel across. Many such wheels have gone through Europe in excellent shape, and the riders commend them, especially for use on wet muddy roads. But the delicacy of the gears is such that in case any accident should happen it would probably be necessary to take the train to the nearest big city in order to find a machinist equal to repairing the damage. Joseph Pennell, the artist who is the LAW console in London, says that he tried a chainless on a tour and found it the deadest thing he ever rode. It was an English chainless and perhaps that made some difference. Gear cases to protect the chain are the usual thing on English wheels. These, with the mud guards before and behind, arouse the derision of every American wheelman at first sight, but as usual where a custom prevails there is a reason for it and sense in it. Wet weather is much more common in Great Britain than either in the States or on the continent, and there is much more of riding on wet roads not only by reason of the weather, but also because the watering cart is abroad in the land. The quarter inch of mire on the surface of London streets is the stickiest stuff that ever spattered a bicycle. Ride over it today and you will wish your own wheel had mud guards. But as these guards, the gear case, the brake, and the usual luggage carrier seen on English wheels make it not uncommon for them to tip the scales at 40 pounds and more. Most American tourists will prefer to get along without the encumbrances. Brakes are far more common, abroad than in the States. Indeed, I note one counselor who says, quote, it would be the height of folly to attempt a European tour without a break. They are useful, particularly in cities like Paris where one finds the most careless drivers in the world, to aid you in stopping quickly on the crowded boulevards, as well as on many of the hills in the neighborhood of Paris, to say nothing of being absolutely necessary when touring in Switzerland, unquote. The last assertion I will accept without demure. But for any tour not extending into a mountainous region, the rider who needs no break at home will need none abroad. Many riders enjoy the sense of intimacy with their machines given by sole reliance on the pedals and feel the safer for it. Such riders not only refuse the burden of a break, but also can see no good in what the English call the free wheel, and Americans the coaster brake, the device enabling one to coast while keeping his feet on the pedals. The battle between the friends and foes of the free wheel has waged long and vigorously in cycling publications and on the road. One American assured me the pleasures of touring had been doubled for him by adopting the device. Another declares that after a test for two or three months he concludes that the free wheel is all right for good roads and dry weather, and for lazy riding, but that for long trips and give and take conditions he has not found at satisfactory. Take your choice. The medium or low geared wheel is by all odds the best for touring abroad. Because you have heard the roads of England and France are the best in the world, do not expect them to be of the billiard table variety. I think they average to have more grades than those of the States. Though perhaps steep hills are not so common, yet there are plenty of long slopes where it pays to have low gears. 74 is plenty high enough, and between 60 and 70 is still the preference with most English riders, though the tendency is to follow our example in increasing the gear and lengthening the crank. The wheels should be the same size, 28 inches, not only because it will be easier to get an extra tire abroad if you must, but also because you can interchange the tires if need be. It is the rear tire that gets the more strain and gives out first. Even before it gives signs of wear, it may be wise to take an hour on some rainy day and interchange the two. It is not advisable to take a tandem, partly because of its greater liability to the danger of breakage of chain or frame, partly because it prevents one of a pair of riders from making excursions alone when the other prefers to rest or perforce must rest by reason of illness or fatigue. Furthermore, two single wheels can easier carry a given amount of luggage than one tandem. How to carry the luggage is a more mooted question even than that of brakes, free wheels or gears. One man said to me beforehand, the only rational way to carry luggage is on the handlebar. The next expert I consulted said none but a fool would carry it on the handlebar, and that the proper place for it was behind the saddle. I compromised by using both ways, with a luggage carrier and the frame as well. The result of trying all three things made it my personal belief that it is practicable with comfort to carry on the handlebar a small leather handbag, best attached by means of two snaps that can be had at any hardware or harness shop for a few cents. These I fashioned to the bar with winding, with stout cord and some German silver wire, so that the snaps would catch in the rings at either end of the handle of the bag, put there for the use of people who carry such bags by a strap over the shoulder. In this bag carry the map, guidebook, toilet articles, and all the small conveniences you can crowd in. Then in the frame carrier put the change of underwear, night shirt, etc. Beneath the saddle swing the tool bag and the thin rubber cape that rolls up so compactly. For a woman's wheel I bought a square handbag, 12 inches long, 7 inches deep, and 6 inches wide. To this I had a harness maker attach three little straps with buckles, so that one could go through the slot on the saddle and the others around the frame, hanging it so that at the start when filled it cleared the mudguard by a quarter of an inch. As a matter of fact it sagged afterwards so that it rested on the mudguard, but only lightly and no damage resulted. The straps must be put on very strongly, as the strain is considerable. This carried the necessities except the light coat which was fastened to the handlebar by the ordinary straps. The frame bag for a man's wheel should have stiff sides. Those of leather are heavy. If you can find a stout one cloth covered it will answer for one tour at least. If the sides can bulge they will prove bothersome in riding. If the bag hangs so low that a pedal at the top of its revolution will come above the bottom of the bag there is danger of a nasty spill in case the bag slips to either side. English riders fancy the wire basket carrier in which they put bag or bundle usually in front of the handlebar sometimes over the rear wheel. Occasionally you will find a tourist traveling with all his goods and chattels rolled in a piece of rubber cloth and strapped to the handlebar. A few will go with a pouch hanging from the shoulder surely the worst way of all. Happiest the man whose wants are so few that he goes without any luggage at all. Lamps or at any rate a light of some kind are indispensable if riding is to be done after dark. The law requires that lamp shall be lighted an hour after sundown and usually it is enforced. Though now and then you will find a city where it is ignored and as a rule it is safe to travel a country road without a lamp. The tourist so seldom needs to ride after dark that it is a pity to add the burden of a lamp. In cities on the few occasions when you may want to wheel in the late evening you can meet the requirements of the law at any rate in France by buying a Chinese lantern and a candle for a few cents and letting it swing from the handlebar. In England the mid-summer twilight are so long that the tourist seldom has need for a light of any kind. In France and most other continental countries the law demands a bell, gong or horn audible at 50 yards. Every cautious rider will be sure to carry a good one anyway. Name plates essential in some regions are worth having anywhere both to protect the wheels and as a means of identification. The CTC furnishes them at a day's notice for 40 cents with your name and address engraved and a tag for riding railway or hotel addresses. Get one. Don't be afraid of taking too many duplicate parts, chain links, nuts, spokes, handle grip, etc. You may not need one but if you do the chances are you can't get it where you may be. The nuts that bothered me most by dropping off were those that fasten the rubber strips in the pedals. Make sure that the repair kit is complete and particularly that the tubes of rubber solution are full and securely corked so that the rubber cannot ooze out or evaporate. Supply yourself with several rubber plugs of various sizes. Preparations for the trip If you buy a new wheel and are not familiar with its mechanism make the dealer take it apart and put it together in your presence or else get a repairer or some skilled friend to do it. I recall an incident showing the importance of this. My pedal was attached to the crank in a way simple enough when you understand it but sure to mystify anybody without mechanical gumption who had not learned its knack. When one dropped off on an isle of white road several miles from a town the experience would have been wearisome had I not puzzled the thing out at the time I bought the machine. I do not understand why makers deliver machines without printed instructions as to these things but they do or at any rate I know none that do not. You may have occasion to take off and replace the wheel to take up the slack on the chain to readjust saddle post or handlebar and you should know how to do these things right before you start. Most of the adjusting however should have been completed before you leave home. Any new wheel should be ridden at least a hundred miles before taking it abroad. The best of them need breaking in, adjusting, slight alteration or repairing. The preliminary writing will show weak points if any exist and it is far better to adjust and alter and make perfect before starting than to wait till you get where time is precious and parts are scarce and men acquainted with your wheel cannot be found. Another thing to be broken in is the footwear. Rash the man or woman who starts on a long tour with new shoes. Men will find no need for shoes especially made for bicycling. You are likely to walk or stand more hours than you ride and such walking boots as you would ordinarily use will be found the best things for your purpose. Some women prefer the high laced boot others the low shoe. Their relative comfort depends on the weather with the chances favoring the high boot. Men may easily quickly and cheaply get their bicycle suits in England and France preferably in England. The CTC has arrangements with tailors who furnish stylish suits of excellent cloth at a fixed price in two or three days after one is measured. There is a choice of materials and though the suit is called a uniform there is nothing in the way of braid or buttons or anything else to differentiate it from an ordinary suit. Cap, coat, knickerbockers and stockings will come to about $15. Have it made with all wool pockets, stiffenings, linings, etc. for then it will dry quickly when damped by rain or perspiration. Wool indeed is to my mind the only material for bicycle touring. Comparatively few people wear all wool under clothing in the summer and the idea of it is far from attractive to people who haven't tried it. On the other hand those who do try it will unanimously back up my assertion that the lightest all wool underwear is not merely indurable. It is more comfortable than anything else and far safer for wheeling induces copious perspiration and to cool off safely when wearing damp cotton is a hard thing to accomplish. Time and again one is forcibly impressed with the fact that though in the sun it is just as hot in England or France as anywhere else whether Iceland or Florida yet in the shade it is as a rule cooler to hire the altitude or latitude. England is much nearer the pole than any part of the States and Paris is much farther north than Quebec. The nights are almost invariably cool and in the daytime one gets comfortable with surprising quickness when forsaking the shadeless road for the shelter of the trees. Furthermore one frequently has occasion to enter cathedrals, chateaus, or other large buildings where the danger of getting cold is not slight unless one is clad in wool. The lightest French flannel or other all wool overshirt with detachable collar will be found preferable. Some riders praise the celluloid or rubber collars and cuffs for steady use. Others prefer the flannel collar on the road changing to linen at evening. Few foreign wheelmen will be noticed riding without a coat. It is in their opinion bad form to appear coatless on the wheel. Anyone who wears woolen under and outer shirts will find a sweater needless and an encumbrance in the summer months except perhaps in the higher parts of Switzerland or Scandinavia. In the matter of wheel woman's attire tastes so differ that advice will be superfluous. I will only quote one who has toured as saying that her individual preference is for a woolen skirt reaching to midway the knee and ankle. English women ride in skirts as long as those of street dresses. French women for the most part with no skirts at all preferring bloomers. Skirt and coat my informant thinks should be of some stout medium colored material for they get hard usage mud is frequent in dust not rare. She extols wash silk wastes because they can be carried so easily for the hat she counsels felt as she says that on her next trip she shall take a light silk gown a summer silk for use evenings if her traveling bag can meet her every night or at any rate once a week and in cities where she may tarry a day or more. Last time she lived two months in a bicycle suit and she says she will not do it again. In the larger cities it is usually possible to get washing done in 24 hours sometimes less but it is not so easy in the small cities and towns. Those who rest on Sundays and on no other days will find the laundry question bothersome. For these reasons it is best to be equipped with at least three sets of under clothing. One women told me he had a trunk meet him once a week and that he carried in it enough underwear to let him accumulate soiled garments for a month then he would have the garments all washed at once. The cyclist waterproof cape that may be bought in an English cycle supply shop for from one to two dollars is light and easily portable. In Great Britain it is reasonably sure to prove worth the carrying and on the continent one is frequently glad to have it. Maps are essential road books are useful though not indispensable. Maps of foreign countries can be bought there in such variety and of such excellence that I shall not try to specify. At the stationers shops or the club headquarters you can quickly suit your purse and your ideas as to detail a bulk. The CTC road books are too voluminous and bulky to meet the needs of the American cyclist who tours rapidly and if he sticks to main traveled roads as ordinarily he will they are by no means essential. It takes three bulky volumes to cover England and Wales alone. Doubtless they are very useful to English members touring out from home and back wanting to vary their trips but for American members a single small volume describing the principal routes would be to my mind much more serviceable. An English road book did me so little good that after reaching France I relied wholly on the map with the information given by landlords always carefully and usually with accuracy. By the way each TCF hotel is supposed to have a map of its neighborhood in detail and if your own map is not on the large scale you can use the hotel map each night to plan out the next day's work. My own preference would be against getting any maps before leaving home. A rough outline of the desired tour with a list of the countries and larger places to be visited is likely to be quite enough to decide on in advance. End of section 6. Section 7 of Going Abroad, Some Advice. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Michael Fosio. Going Abroad, Some Advice by Robert Lucy. Chapter 5 Bicycle Touring. Part 2. Comment on countries. Great Britain. No customs duty on bicycles. Bicycle outfitting shops will be found in any of the ports at which the tourists may land. Liverpool, indeed, is held by some experienced travelers to be a better place than London for shopping. If you land at Queenstown for the Irish tour, go to Cork for what you may need. Ireland is wet. Prepare for showers and steady rains. In those European countries in which the high ground is on the west side, more rain falls there than on the east side. Manchester has an average annual rainfall of 36 inches, where that of London is 25, Glasgow 44, and Edinburgh 38. In Scotland, the wettest months are July and August, the worst time of the whole year being about the middle of August. In May, east and west winds are equally common in Scotland. From June to August, the proportion of west wind increases till it blows more than twice as often as the east wind. In England, the prevailing winds are westerly so that it is much easier to tour toward London from the west than to go west from London. The Midland countries give the most level riding, and the Fen country from Cambridge to the sea has few slopes. The southern coast is hilly, and for a tour through Devonshire and Cornwall, stout legs are necessary. The Isle of Wight is about all up and down, yet a delightful spot. Wales, though mountainous, has a good deal of level road, with some long coasts that are exceedingly enjoyable. Crowded streets are the rule for some miles from the centre of London. Avoid them if you choose by using the train, or if it suits your plans, take a Thames steamboat upriver as far as Q, or a downriver where you will, being prepared to pay twice as much for the carriage of your bicycle as for that of yourself. If you push your wheel on a London sidewalk, you are reasonably sure to get arrested. Channel Islands. No duty on bicycles. These islands are British possessions. The difference between their administration and that of England itself concerns the bicyclist, in but one particular, vise the provision in Guernsey, that every bicycle shall carry a number on a tin rectangle hung beneath the saddle, and a jingle bell. The hotel proprietor furnishes these at a cost of six cents for each bicycle. If there is a law requiring the jingle bell in Jersey, it is not enforced, and no numbers are required for tourists' wheels. The riding on these islands is hilly, but the roads are good and the scenery is charming. They have very mild winters, and wheeling over them is attractive at any time of year. France. Duty. 220 francs for each 100 kilos, about 25 cents a pound. This duty is not collected from a member of the CTC or the TCF who accompanies his wheel and presents his ticket of membership for the current year at any seaport or frontier town. For brevity's sake, I will not in each case repeat the statement that LAW members have CTC privileges when they have arranged, therefore. Wheelmen who are not club members may be required to pay the duty, usually seven dollars or eight dollars, get a receipt for it, and collect it at the point where they may leave the country, but the law is not uniformly enforced. When the deposit is made, a lead seal is attached to the bicycle, with a custom house mark stamped on it. Notice that in order to avoid the deposit, the club member must accompany his wheel, and he must present himself to the customs officers, not leaving the matter to anybody else. If I understand it right, the French officials discriminate between the wheelmen entering the country for the first time in any given year, and the wheelmen who is re-entrant. Whether Frenchmen or a foreigner, club member or not, if you leave France with the intention of returning presently, you must have a lead seal attached to the bicycle as you cross the frontier in order to avoid the payment of duty when you return. Quite separate from the duty is the annual tax imposed on bicycles. All foreigners who declare at the port of entry that it is not their intention to remain in France more than three months are exempted from this tax. On payment of twelve cents, they get a certificate to this effect, which they must show on demand of any official. Nobody ever asked to see mine. A CTC membership ticket may be useful to back up an assertion that one is a tourist. The law requires a name plate on each bicycle. Lacking one of metal, the tourist can make a visiting card answer, or a playing card, with name and address written on it, tied to the steering head. The roads of France, taken as a whole, are the best in the world, but this does not mean that it has no bad roads, or that from one end of the country to the other riding is of the cinder track variety. In the Macadam surface there is much flinty material, hard on tires, and the surface itself is often so warm that the stones give an incessant vibration, which sometimes make the American long for the layer of dust that forms a sort of cushion on the roads with which he is familiar. The main highways are military roads, often running as straight as an arrow with utter disregard of hills and valleys, so that although long hills may not be met with more than twice a day, the slopes are almost continuous where the country is rolling. Many American roads and few French roads follow water courses. The rarity of brooks and ponds is noticeable to the New Englander. The great merit of the French road is its freedom from ruts and its quick drying properties. The fastest riding we did was in an hour on a French road begun when a heavy thundershower had not wholly passed. Some of the highways out of Paris are paved with cobblestones for miles. The maps show which these are. Dodge them by taking the train to a suburban station or where a steam tram makes it possible. Put your wheel aboard and ride to the end of the route. For instance, much the best way to start down the Seine Valley is to take the tram to Saint Germain. Some tourists advocate taking the train to Paris from Havre or Boulogne, or wherever one lands, if he has come direct from the States on the ground that the sea voyage has left him in poor condition to start touring at once, and that probably some outfitting in Paris will be desirable. Yet the road between Paris and the sea is charming. The beauties of the valley of the Seine would be as famous as those of the Rhine or Thames if passenger steamers could ply between Rouen and the capital. Brittany is more picturesque than Normandy. On the whole I enjoyed the valley of the Loire more than either. In Normandy and Brittany the usual breezes are from the west. On the other hand, we found a strong wind blowing down the Loire from northeast to southwest, almost steadily for a month. From Paris, then, one would be better go down the Loire to angers or knots, and thence back along the northern Breton coast. In the Rhine Valley is found the powerful and distressing wind known as the Mistral, violent, dry, bitterly cold. It rages most in the winter. But it intervals through the rest of the year makes wheeling against it a painful task for days at a time. So ride down the Rhine Valley from Lyon, and it is a northwest wind. Try to plan your riding along the coast of southern France and the Riviera from west to east. The region southwest of Paris is dull till you reach the Jura, and the prevailing winds there come from the direction of Switzerland. So, if you start from Paris, unless you care to ride as far as Fontainebleau, better make by rail the whole distance to Dijon or Macron. The best month for touring the Riviera is April, northern Normandy May, southern Normandy and Terrain, September. Brittany is the coolest region you will find in France in mid-summer. It is undeniably hot in France in the middle of the summer day. The summer of 1899 was undoubtedly exceptional, and perhaps in no other summer would we have gone through July and August without a single rainy day. But I am convinced that though a mid-summer tour in France is far better than no tour at all, yet next time I would choose a cooler country for mid-summer riding. The small degree to which rain annoys the tourist in France may be judged from the following averages of the rainy days in Paris in each month the last three years. January 5, February 5, March 6, April 8, May 6, June 4, July 3, August 3, September 2, October 2, November 4, December 4, Belgium. Dijon bicycles 12% at Valorum. This will be returned to the tourist on leaving the country if he crosses the frontier at a custom house and presents his receipt. Club members have concessions, but their conditions change so from time to time that perhaps, when this is read, new regulations will be enforced. The smallest steamboats have the shrillest whistles, and little Belgium is very noisy when cyclists are concerned. At this writing, members of the CTC and TCF are allowed to take their wheels into Belgium free on exhibition of membership card, which much spare a photograph of the member. No formality is required of members in leaving the country. The man who pays the duty when he enters Belgium should give some forethought to his departure if he wants his money back without danger of delay. If he is to leave for Paris by rail, he would better write two or three days ahead to the customs official at Quevy or Airquilines, according to his route, and inform him as to which train he will use. The official will stamp the receipt, and if he finds the wheel described in it in the baggage van, he will refund the money without delay. It is better, however, to ride your wheel out of Belgium if you can do so without inconvenience. Belgium has many excellent roads, but it also has many miles of cobblestones. Its officials are apt to be officious, and taken altogether it is not one of the most attractive countries for bicyclists. Holland. Duty. 5% add valorem. Tourists enter without having to pay duty or make deposit, and no bother need be apprehended. The brick paved roads are criticized by some tourists, extolled by others. Many of them are now provided with side paths for bicycles. One is allowed to ride along the towpaths of the canals, and as the country is as flat as a table, it is the lazy wheelman's paradise. Great Elms shade many of the roads for miles. The Dutch cycling club has put up plentiful signposts so that the complete ignorance of the language on the part of almost every foreigner is not likely to be troublesome. Some English speaking person will be found at most of the hotels, and it is a language understood in most of the better shops. In the matter of living expenses, be prepared to find the costliest country on the continent. Also, be prepared for more danger of punctures by hobnails than almost anywhere else, and for a good deal of wet weather. Switzerland. Duty. 70 francs for each 100 kilos, about 6 cents a pound. Members of the CTC get relief from paying this by securing a special cycle ticket from the secretary, which must bear the member's photograph, preferably cart-de-visit size. Members of the TCF get the same relief by presenting their membership tickets, but these two must bear the photograph, countersigned by the member. No formality is required of club members on leaving the country. Bicyclists who are not club members get back the duty on departure by presenting the receipt to the customs official at the frontier. The best time for wheeling in Switzerland is in June and the first fortnight in July. The days are then at their longest, more of an advantage in mountainous than in flat countries. It is no longer cold, and yet the heat has not become oppressive. The valleys of the Alps are hot and mid-summer in the middle of the day, however cold may be the passes and the heights. Then, too, the landlords have not put their prices to top-notch, as they do after July 14, when the hordes of tourists come. Nor have the roads freshly put in condition yet been cut up or made powdery by the diligence and the summer traffic. But Switzerland, all through the summer, is delightful, and strange as it may seem, the bicyclist, who better than anybody else appreciates the meaning of the phrase, the ups and downs of life, will find it one of the best touring grounds in Europe. Though Switzerland is all hills, there are many miles of fairly level road. Along Lake Lucerne, for instance, with Mount Rigi on one side and Mount Pilatus on the other, both rising sharp from the water's edge, and the southern end of the lake so walled by heights that the road has to be carried along by frequent tunnels, this road, the Exansdrasse, is nearly as level as the drives in Central Park. Around Lake Geneva, too, and up the Rhône Valley, the roads are surprisingly level. The Angadine, with beauties among the most remarkable in Europe, is traversed by a road 60 miles long, and a mean altitude exceeding that of the loftiest peak in Great Britain, yet with so little gradient that one can ride from end to end without dismounting. Though from the highest to the lowest point of the road you drop more than 2,000 feet, yet the drop is so evenly distributed over so many miles that you can ride from Martin's Bruch in the lower Angadine to Meloja in the upper, without difficulty. On the passes it is all up or all down, but as their roads were built with military purposes in view, and the grades had to be easy to permit the dragging of cannon over them, there are no pitches too steep to wheel down as you repeatedly find in an American mountain region. Some wheelmen maintain that it is actually easier to ascend an alpine grade with a bicycle than without one, that by throwing the weight forward on the handlebar, they can walk up a mountain faster than the unencumbered pedestrian. One rider reports that in making a Swiss tour he found his tires so thin he did not dare use the brake, so he bought a pine log about four feet long and eight or ten inches thick, into which he drove a nail so that he could drag it behind the bicycle by means of a cord nine or ten feet long attached to the saddle post. This drag he found a great saving of strength on the downgrades of three passes. Look out for the diligence in Switzerland. The driver thinks he owns the road and seems to have a spite against all wheelmen. His whiplash is a more formidable weapon than any you can command, and it is the better part of valor to submit humbly to being crowded into the ditch. Italy, duty 42.60 lira, about $8.22 on each bicycle. As for Switzerland, members of the CTC get relief from paying this by securing a special cycle ticket from the secretary, and members of the TCF enter by simply showing usual membership ticket, the photograph on it not being absolutely necessary, but advised by the TCF officials to guarantee identity. The Italian officials are the strictest of the continent in the matter of bicycles, and it is well to take precautions against trouble with them. No formality is required of the TCF members on leaving the country. Tourists who are not club members must deposit the duty, getting it back on to party. The leaden seal attached to the machine on entry should not be disturbed. Italian roads have, as a rule, good surface and poor grades. About Genoa, however, are some that are poor in every regard. From the Swiss passes to the Po and thence to Venice or Florence is good riding, and so it is for the greater part of the way to Rome. But on the Campania they deteriorate, and then the farther south of Rome one gets, the worse the roads. In July and August Italian wheelmen rarely ride unless in the early morning or late afternoon, and tourists will find Italy decidedly hot in those months. The spring is far better, but the passes from Switzerland then have too much snow to be crossed with any comfort, and that beautiful first descent into Italy would be missed. So on the whole the autumn is the best time for a tour toward the eternal city. In southern Italy snow is so rare that touring might go on all through the winter. Austria-Hungary Duty on bicycles imported for sale, Florence, $12.06. Tourists deposit $10 at the Custom House, refunded on departure. They are also required to swear to a declaration that the bicycle is not for sale, and that it is their intention to remain only temporarily in Austria. CTC members get free entry on presentation of membership ticket with photograph attached, but must get the special cycle permit at the frontier, which permit must be discharged at the Custom House where the cyclist leaves the country. The roads are excellent and the T-roll is an especially attractive region for a tour. Germany Duty 24 marks for each 100 kilos, about 3 cents a pound. The bicycles brought by tourists are by law classed as traveling effects, and as such are exempt from duty when no doubt exists that the machine serves solely for the private and personal use of the tourist. It is rare that any trouble arises, but occasionally the duty is exacted on the Alsace-Lorraine frontier, and it will then be returned only on condition that the cyclist leaves the country by the same Custom House as that by which he entered. German roads are excellent, but not up to those of France on the whole. The roads in the Black Forest are to be particularly commended, adding much to the enjoyment of a region famous for its attractions. It does not get its name from being a continuous stretch of woodland, but from the dark pine-covered mountains. Yet, though mountainous, it has many miles of fairly level road, besides coasts of fabulous length. This district is about 50 by 100 miles east and north of the Upper Rhine, and may be well entered by way of Baden-Baden, Strasbourg, Freiburg, or Schlafhausen. It is a region where midday heat is less oppressive than on lower levels. The scenery is fine and the hotels are both good and reasonable. The Harz Mountains are visited by foreign tourists, but are extolled by those who have entered them. They are said to have one coast 27 miles long that can be ridden without touching the feet to the pedals, yet with roadbeds so good and slopes so gentle that there is no danger of a spill. A favorite trip is from Rotterdam, or Amsterdam, up the Rhine Valley to Switzerland. The prevailing winds blow up the river, but are not considerable enough to make a central difference. Perhaps they would be more than offset by the slight advantage in sliding down with the stream. Denmark. Duty 10% at Velorum. The CTC announcement of customs arrangements says that, quote, no duty is ever levied in Denmark on tourist cycles, but on the contrary, every possible facility is offered with a view to encourage cyclists to travel to Denmark, unquote. On the other hand, the TCF book says, quote, every traveler entering Denmark with his bicycle must have a lead seal put on his machine and pay the duty. Its return is made to him at the same custom house, or in other custom houses by virtue of a special authorization, unquote. The country has good roads. Plenty of daylight in summer and comfortable hotels in all large towns. If one can escape the frequent showers, he will have a pleasant trip there. Norway. Duty 30 kroner, about $8.15. CTC members are exempt, the club being known to the Norwegian customs authorities as the, quote, international touring club for cyclists, unquote. The TCF does not report any arrangement with Norway. Other tourists have the money refunded on departure in the usual way. The roads are kept an excellent repair. The surface is a mixture of clay and sand, more elastic than macadam, but very sticky after rain. Sweden. Duty 15 percent, Advalorum. The CTC and TCF announcements, as to the customs practice, again differ. The CTC says, quote, used cycles belonging to tourists are allowed to enter duty-free after examination by the customs, and on the signing, in each case of a declaration by the owner to the effect that the machine is imported for his own use and not for sale, unquote. The TCF says that the tourists must make a deposit of the duty, and that in estimating this, the packing, insurance, and freight charges are taken into account. When the cyclists enter Sweden by way of Stockholm, Malmo, Lundskrona, Helsingborg, Stonestadt, Charlottenburg, or Storlem, there are no special formalities to be observed. If, however, he enters by any other customs bureau, a letter will have to be addressed to the director general of the customs, asking permission to enter. In order to have the deposit refunded in this case, the cyclist will have to leave the country by the port of entry. In other cases, the deposit will be refunded by the above-named custom houses. If the tourist remains more than 60 days, the deposit is forfeited. I have heard Scandinavia more highly extolled for a bicycle touring than any other region in Europe. The length of the days, the coolness of the climate, the grandeur of much of the scenery, the hospitality, and the honesty of the people, the economy of expense, all are considerations presented for deciding the wheelmen to visit the land of Norsemen. Russia. Duty, 12 rubles, gold. About $9.35. The CTC book says that cyclists must deposit the duty care being taken to state expressly that the money is being only deposited, and that the machine will be re-exported. This deposit is returned on leaving the country, but as the deposit fund is kept totally distinct from the general fund in each custom house, the deposit cannot be returned unless there is enough money on hand for that particular purpose. Failing this, the chief of the custom house must apply to St. Petersburg, and months may elapse before he is in a position to repay the money. In such a case, the tourist should write to the British or American consul at St. Petersburg, asking him to get the deposit refunded. The TCF book declares that instructions have been given by the customs department so that the formalities may be accomplished in an expeditious manner. That would certainly seem desirable. The fact is that Russia hampers the cyclist in a way that would be ludicrous were it not so annoying. For instance, the Russian cyclist must qualify himself for a permit to ride by passing an examination. He must carry two huge number plates so that he can be identified from either direction. He is liable to punishment if he rings his bell without need, and again to find if he doesn't ring it when there is need, and nothing but a bell is allowed for a signal. Cyclists together must ride in single file, at least 12 feet apart, and there are other regulations like these said to prevail in St. Petersburg that must make a wheeling a burden to the native cyclists. Whether the foreigner is equally restricted, I don't know. But I heard of one man who said money wouldn't induce him to take a bicycle into Russia again. Spain. Duty. 70 pesetas per 100 kilos, about 6 cents a pound. This must be deposited unless the cyclist can give as bail a well-known merchant or a frontier forwarding agent who will be responsible for him. The CTC says the deposit will be refunded only at the same custom house. The TCF says it will be refunded at any custom house. To lessen the bother of many worrying formalities, it is wise to obtain the services of a commissionaire on the frontier or an international custom house broker at the frontier towns of Hende or Cerberre. If a mistake is made in the declaration, the amount of duty will be forfeited and a fine imposed. The main roads of Spain are good as a rule, though it is not so good as those of France and Italy. The American is not likely to suffer any indignities because of his nationality, but if he fears them, let him pass as an Englishman. It is a dry country, the average annual rainfall at Madrid being 9 inches against 45 in New York and Boston. Other Countries. So few American cyclists are likely to tour in other European countries that numerous details about them need not be given. Some of the duties are Portugal, 27% add Valorum. Cyclists can get deposit refunded at any frontier station. In some places, notably Lisbon, duty not enforced and cycles enter free. Romania, $1.55 cents each, deposit refunded at any custom house. Turkey, 8% on entry, 2% on departure. Bulgaria, 14% and 2% additional for the octroy duty will be refunded at any frontier station. Greece, octroy of 40 cents and a duty of $2 will be refunded less $1 for expenses and a small supplement if the cyclist does not leave the country by the same custom house. Serbia, 8% add Valorum, plus 7% on amount of duty so levied. En route. In Great Britain, the law of the road requires you to keep to the left on meeting anything going in the opposite direction, to pass on the right anything going in the same direction. In France and generally elsewhere on the continent, the rule is as in the United States, keep to the right and pass to the left. But I understand that in Bohemia, in some parts of Holland and in a few Italian cities, the rule is as in England. If you are on the wrong side, you can recover no damages in case of accident, but on the other hand are liable to pay them yourself. On meeting a lead horse, go by on the side of the man in charge of him. Passing between two teams or bicycles is dangerous work, but the most dangerous thing of all is to cut close to a corner when you cannot see what may be coming around it. In Great Britain, it is illegal to ride on any path set aside for foot passengers under any circumstances. In France, such a path may be used when the road is undergoing repairs or for some other reason is impassable. Dangerous hills are marked in Great Britain and generally throughout Central Europe by warning signs put up by the touring clubs. The TCF alone has put up about two thousand of these. Both in England and France, however, in excess of caution has frequently put them at the top of hills down which any fairly skilful rider can easily ride. After being fooled two or three times, the American rider, man or woman will usually refuse to dismount till the reason for it is palpable. Ride with a handlebar high. You are there to see, not to scorch. Take care of your wheel. Its neglect may ruin your trip. Nowhere is the trite truth about the stitch in time saving nine more applicable than in bicycle touring. Note the first unusual click, jar or creek, and locate the cause at once if you can. Sometimes after a long hunt you will find the squeak is nothing more serious than a whim of the saddle-spring, but then again you will find it the sign of troubles that might become serious. On wet roads the flying particles of mud work into the chain and tighten it, sometimes beyond the braking point. So, when the chain gets to grinding and snapping, try loosening it a bit if you find it taut. Should the rivet of a lank break, it can be temporarily mended with a bit of wire, well enough to get you to the next repair shop. If you lose a screwdriver or have none a coin put in the slot of the screw and gripped by the wrench will often serve. A nut or bolt that is stuck can sometimes be started by warming it a little, sometimes by applying hot vinegar. Other means failing get as much oil on it as you can and let it soak for a few hours. Keeping the bearings of your machine oiled. A drop of oil to each set of balls once every hundred miles is an easy rule to remember. Too much oil is almost as bad as too little, though to run dry balls is certainly bad enough. Better clean your wheel yourself, unless you send it to a bicycle shop for that purpose. The ordinary hosteler or boots knows nothing about a bicycle and is as likely as not to wash it down as he would a carriage. At a very few hotels somebody will without your order clean your wheel in the hope for a fee, but usually it will not even be so much as wiped off if you arrive in the rain. If you care about the polish of the enamel don't scrape dried mud off the frame, soak at first with a damp sponge or cloth. If you want to give the chain a soak you can buy a few cents worth of petroleum in any village. Find an old can, coil the chain in the bottom of it, just cover it with the petroleum and the next morning the chain will be clean as a whistle, but you would better oil the rivets before using it. After using the pedal mount a long time constant trouble with loosening cranks led me to go back to the step mount. Whether the trouble stopped because of the change in mounting or because I got a wheel with the cranks put on in the old way and the right way I don't know. If the pedal mount does strain the machine it is just as well to use the step when touring. Each to his taste in the matter of the day's work. My own preference on European roads when riding with men would be from 35 to 45 miles a day with women 20 to 35 miles a day. One goes abroad chiefly for the pleasures of travel not for the benefits of physical work which though useful should be subsidiary to my mind yet many Americans whiz through Europe at the rate of from 50 to 70 miles a day and say they like it. My own vote would go for eight miles an hour as the average speed day in and day out but if anybody wants to make it 10 the roads won't stop him from doing it. The man who isn't used to exercise before breakfast would be rash to start in on it at the outset of a tour where bad dyspepsia or a physical collapse would mean so much disappointment. All the hygienists say that any work directly after eating is dangerous but slow riding is not hard enough work to make a long rest essential after the usual continental morning or midday meal. He who makes long distances can't avoid riding in the middle of the day but when the sun shines he's sure to perspire then. Some men think they can accomplish the most and get the most enjoyment out of wheeling in the late afternoon but for my part I like to get to a hotel and time to rest and clean up comfortably before dinner time. There is great pleasure in wheeling in the long cool English twilight of midsummer. In the matter of wind you will usually find the evenings the best for wheeling everywhere. The force of the wind reaches its maximum ordinarily about two in the afternoon being then on an average about twice as strong as it is in the early morning. The luggage problem is one that the tourist always has with him and that's the puzzle of it. One rule is to make a list of everything you think you must carry and then leave out half of it. Every ounce counts. Some tourists carry absolutely nothing on their wheels but have a bag meet them at every stopping place. One who is following this plan told me that in the morning he turned his bag over to the hotel porter with instructions to send it to such and such a place. At first he gave the name of the hotel where he meant to pass the night but some annoyance led him to have the bag sent to the station. On arrival he sent the hotel porter for it and avarred that he got it regularly and speedily. The method is not costly but I should be slow to point credence in its accuracy and it has the out of making it necessary every morning to determine where one is to pass the night. Let a rainstorm start in at noon with your destination 20 or 30 miles away and things are awkward if you are far from the railroad but it certainly is a great comfort to have fresh clothes every evening and a costume fit for theater or anything else. My own plan has been to meet the bag once a week but next time if any women were of the party I should make it a trunk. A few tourists mostly youths take only what can be carried on the wheel. This is feasible but robs travel of many of the comforts and luxuries that seem to most of us worth the having. The laundry feature of the method is the most perplexing. Could one invariably get washing done in a few hours? The plan might be simple but as a matter of fact that is not always practicable and in some places the washer women insist on two days. Provision against the extreme of hunger and thirst can and should be carried. Chocolate is perhaps the most portable thing that will ward off the faintness of hunger. For thirst I have found the acidulated candies a relief such as are sold here under the name of lime fruit tablets. Similar candies can be bought in any of the European cities with the lime or lemon taste. Lemons themselves are to be had in about every town and their juice is excellent in making tepid water palatable. In these days of microbe mania it would be unfashionable not to advise against the promiscuous drinking of water but nevertheless I will hazard the theory that a healthy person doing the physical work of a rational bicycle tour is not in a condition to fall a quick prey to the omnipresent basilis. For my own part I am reckless enough to drink anything that is drinkable. Cold water is a rarity on the road in England and France. He who well thinks that on a bicycle tour alcoholic beverages should not be used before dinnertime if at all can engrave written by ginger beer or ginger ale at every village grocery and on the continent he can get for a few cents at any cafe, a bottle of aerated water, soda water, you deselt or whatever you choose to call it. But let him not run away with the idea that aerating water makes it innocuous. The carbonic acid gas with which it is charged does not rob it of any of its impurities and abroad much less than with us is it the custom to filter or boil or distill water that is to be charged. The notion that a dash of brandy in a glass of water robs it of its unwholesomeness is a fallacy. Soda fountains are rare in the big cities and unknown elsewhere but one gets the same result though less palatable by calling for the you deselt and syrup either mixing it to suit his taste or letting the waiter mix it before him. In Great Britain if you call for lemonade you will get bottled stuff that will make an American sad but call for a lemon squash and you will get the real article. In France make your order citrone au naturel when you will probably get a lemon, a squeezer, the soda water siphon and the sugar. One seldom rides a half hour without the chance to get wine or beer at some wayside inner cafe but neither of them quenches the bicyclists thirst like sour drinks. Much drinking, much perspiration. Resolve every morning not to take to drink so early that day as you did the day before. Chewing a straw may help you resist the temptation. It provokes a flow of saliva and lessens the misery of intense thirst. To gratify it once the desire to get at the soda water siphon at the end of the day's work may serve a secondary purpose worth considering if you are not a steady patronizer of touring club hotels or if you have two or three of them to choose between. I am indebted to Mr. Stetson's narrative for the suggestion and he appears to have made frequent and profitable use of the scheme in Switzerland and Northern Italy. He and his friends would ride up to a good looking cafe and dismount as if they had no intention whatever of staying there but had stopped for a drink. While circulating the siphon they would casually ask the waiter if he had any rooms to let. Forthwith the landlord or landlady would come out with the most alluring terms fearing the party would ride away. Thus they daily settled a matter of lodging without bother, embarrassment or haggling and on the most thrifty base as possible. Once by reason of rain they arrived in an Italian hotel in the Hotel Omnibus from the station. The manager offered the miserable rooms at a price far above what they had been paying. They left the place in disgust and speedily found far better rooms at half the price. In Great Britain no matter at what hour of the day or night the traveler asks for admission the landlord if he has accommodation to spare must admit him. The only ground on which he is entitled to refuse to receive a traveler is that he is drunk and disorderly, a person of notoriously bad character or is suffering from an infectious disease. On the other hand to come within the category of a traveler the cyclist must have slept at least three miles from the inn on the previous night. If a cyclist be turned away from the doors of an inn or hotel for any other reason except lack of accommodation he is entitled to bring an action for damages for any injury he may sustained by such a refusal. He must however be able to prove specific damage either by illness to himself or injury to his machine consequent on the refusal. An innkeeper is liable to compensate the cyclist up to a maximum of $150 for a machine stolen or damaged provided that it has been given into the charge of a servant of the inn. All these rules apply in an equal degree to the temperance hotel. Against these facts must be placed the section of the law which provides that in case a cyclist refuses or is unable to pay his bill the landlord may detain his machine as security and if after six weeks the account is still unsettled he may sell it after advertising the intended sale in a London and a local newspaper. Out of the proceeds he is entitled to the amount of the bill and the cost of the sale. Transportation of Bicycles By common agreement the transatlantic steamship lines charge $2.50 for carrying a bicycle across. It is announced that the wheels must be crated and perhaps in some lines the rule is always enforced, but the chances are that on the freight boats you can have your wheel taken across without crating it if you so desire. One can save the cost of crating and the transportation fee as well and at the same time guard the wheel perfectly against both rust and breakage by taking it apart and packing it with Excelsior or clothing in a large trunk which will go free in the hold. If the wheel is not thus packed whether it goes crated or not the bright parts should be rubbed over with Vaseline to prevent rust. If you purpose wheeling as soon as you land have the wheel brought on deck the day before you are to go ashore and get it into shape you will have no better chance. If you are to return from the same port your crate will be stored for you on the pier in that case it may be well to have the crate put together with screws instead of nails or you may have crate and all sent to a bicycle shop in Liverpool or Southampton or wherever it may be. The charge will probably be a dollar for uncrating and putting the wheel in shape to ride another dollar for crating when you return. Should you plan starting from London it will be better not to uncrate on board the boat or at the landing port but to have the wheel go with you in its crate but if you land it alone or hover and plan to make the start from Paris you may save some expense by getting rid of the crate before you take the train. A well-made crate with one side hinged and padlocked may serve for transportation of the bicycle by rail or a wicker basket frame can be bought in England or France for from five dollars to ten dollars or for twenty five dollars you may buy a bicycle trunk a huge clumsy affair that the tourist in a hurry will shun. With trunk basket or crate the handlebar must be removed and ordinarily the pedals and saddle. This means a distressing waste of time and replacing and adjustment. In England the usual railway charge for carrying a bicycle is twelve cents for a distance not exceeding twelve miles twenty five miles eighteen cents fifty miles twenty four cents seventy five miles thirty six cents one hundred miles forty eight cents and then twelve cents more for every fifty miles. This often makes the cost for short distances half as much as the third-class passenger fare and is an outrage of the same quality as that found in the more benighted of the American states. France has taken the lead of the world in this matter of justice to bicyclists and benefit to the railway treasuries for to carry bicycles free redowns to the financial advantage of the railway in the long run. By ministerial decree no French railway can make any charge for uncreated bicycles accompanied by the owner except a fee of two cents for registration i.e. what we call checking the only difference being that one gets a paper slip instead of a brass tag. I understand that in France if your wheel is crated and you have other than hand luggage all that is to go on the baggage car is weighed together wheel included and if the total is in excess of the sixty six pounds free you pay the excess baggage charge if the wheel is sent unaccompanied the usual freight or express tariff supply in Germany the railway fee for bicycles is half a mark twelve cents no matter what the distance they are not admitted on express trains in Belgium bicycles are carried as baggage with the usual charges when not created if created they go at the rates of other merchandise in Italy the railroads will not be responsible for damage to bicycles not created as a rule on the continent outside France and Germany the customary baggage charges extend to bicycles in Italy the railroads will not be responsible for damage to bicycles not created in England if the wheel goes at the company's risk twenty five percent is added to the fee when the owner accompanies the wheel for forwarding an unaccompanied wheel thirty three percent more is charged if it is to go at the company's risk than if at the owner's risk after you after you have paid the exorbitant cost of a bicycle ticket on an English railway and have turned over the wheel to the baggage man he always acts a request for a tip for himself and if you overlook it is likely to hunt you up on the train and smilingly inform you that the wheel has been put on board safely the railroad having swindled you the porter is not likely to meet with a cheerful reception you are under no obligation to tip him unless you see fit in France where the road charges nothing the railway people seem to expect nothing but perhaps the wheel will be put aboard with more care if you produce a few cents anyhow both in France and England it is wiser to put the machine on the car with your own hands at the end of the journey it is equally wise to get your wheel yourself as it is handed from the car in England half the time you will get into the car and help yourself American tourists who take their own wheels abroad will have no question raised at the custom house on their return unless per chance they have taken an English wheel with them in such rare cases it would be well to forestall objection by getting the wheel registered at the custom house before departure a bicycle bought abroad can be brought in free only in case the owner has used it a year so the law says and perhaps it is enforced but no case of it has come to my attention the Canadian duties may bother somewhat a tourist going from the United States by one of the Canadian lines LAW members avoid the payment of Canadian duties by complying with certain formalities but I should think the easiest way would be to express the wheel in bond to the steamship end of section seven