Historic Photographs from the 19

Historic Photographs from the 1930's

Ernest (Tubby) Capell was the English time trial Champion in 1934. As well as being a racing cyclist, he was an avid touring cyclist and a keen photographer. Many of his photographs appeared in English cycling magazines during the 1930's and 1940's.

Unfortunately, most of his cycling photographs have been destroyed, but a few remain. Some of these are presented below. Have a look and see how much and how little cycle touring has changed over the years.

On his way to winning the "Best All round" cyclists of 1934, Tubby Capell rode the fastest 100 mile of the year and the second fastest on record. He completed the "Bath Road 100" in 4 hours 32 minutes 1 second. A couple of weeks later he lead all the way to win the "Anerley 12" completing 236 and a half miles in the 12 hour time trial. Compared to the highly sophisticated feeding regimes of modern day racing cyclists, his feeds for the "Anerley 12" seem very simple indeed. "These consisted of a half to three-quarter-pint drink of a milk food at about every 30 miles for the first 150 miles, and at every 20 miles from there to the finish, with a small sandwich of brown bread and a meat extract at every alternate drink."

The cost of cycle touring in the 1930's

Written on the back of one of the photographs of Austria is a short note "Two weeks, all hotels and meals - 15 (English) shillings per day. That works out to 75 pence. You can't buy much for that these days. You could maybe buy a couple of half litre cans of beer on special in a supermarket in Austria but not much more.

To put this in perspective, the following excerpts from an article which appeared in the 6 July, 1934 edition of "Cycling" magazine are illuminating.

"G.H.S." wrote that you needed to budget on at least 10s. a day for a cycle tour and that Scotland was more expensive than Wales. Sometimes he had been forced to spend one pound for a night's accommodation. "'Sundries' sometimes run away with a surprising sum, and make you wonder at the end of the fortnight why your purse is so light."

"The Needler" argued that camping was cheaper and better. When asked how much a tour cost him, he stated that his usual answer was "Very little." "On tour I look upon myself as a tramp awheel and lead as simple a life as possible. The earth is my bed and a tent my covering; a green field is my table and my meals plain." Seven days in Devon and Cornwall cost him 38s while ten days in the Cotswolds cost 68s.

According to H. Briercliffe, judicious use of the 'C.T.C. Handbook', meant farmhouse and cottage bed and breakfast could often be found for 3s.6d. or less. Adding 2s.6d. for lunch and tea, 1s. for supper and 1s. for chocolate, etc gave him a budget of 8s. a day. However, if you stayed at Youth Hostels, the budget could be reduced to 5s. a day.

On the other hand, "The Loiterer" thought that you needed roughly 11s. a day and while this was more than he used to spend 20 years previously, competition had kept price increases to a minimum.

In sharp contrast, Mrs. R. de Heaume has toured in Wales for 2s.6. per day "all inclusive; camping , of course." "I usually camp and rarely spend more than two pounds to two pounds ten shillings during the week; that includes sightseeing extras, such as ices and chocolates, and sometimes (on wet nights) a show of some sort."

"Peter Pedlar" says "I start out with a pound in my pocket for for each day the tour is going to last. To be more truthful, I prefer to tour for the number of days I have pounds!"

A 1936 Tour of the Austrian Tyrol

Click on the photos to enjoy a larger view.