Pelotome –
around Bulgaria on a bicycle.
“In Servia, the peasants, driving along the road in their wagons, upon observing me approaching them, being uncertain of the character of my vehicle and the amount of road-space I require, would ofttimes drive entirely off the road ; and sometimes, when they failed to take this precaution, and their teams would begin to show signs of restiveness as I drew near, the men would seem to lose their wits for the moment, and cry out in alarm, as though some unknown danger were hovering over them.
I have seen women begin to wail quite pitifully, as though they fancied I bestrode an all-devouring circular saw that was about to whirl into them and rend team, wagon, and everything asunder. But the Bulgarians don’t seem to care much whether I am going to saw them in twain or not ; they are far less particular about yielding the road and both men and women seem to be made of altogether sterner stuff than the Servians and Slavonians.”
~ Around The World on a Bicycle, Thomas Stevens (1887).
My Life and Times
by Jerome K. Jerome
From £4,75
June 1885 – Published 1887.
Around the World on a Bicycle.
“From San Francisco to Teheran” was the first illustrated volume of 29 year old English immigrant Tom Steven’s pioneering ride around the globe. The book covers the first half of the novice rider’s journey on his fifty-inch Pope “Columbia” high-wheeler, with a handlebar bag containing socks, a spare shirt, a raincoat that doubled as a tent and bedroll, and a pocket revolver.
Leaving California, on 22nd April, 1884, he became the first cyclist to cross the United States in the process, sailing from New York to Liverpool, and continuing his journey in May 1885 through Europe, he arrived into Bulgaria at Caribrod (today Dimitrovgrad, Serbia), passing through “a country of goats and goat-herd” to Sofia, arriving in the Bulgarian capital on the 23rd June 1885,
“The road southward from Sofia is abominable,” proclaimed Stevens; “It is the worst piece of road I have encountered in all Europe,” while “mud is the principal element of the road leading out of Ichtiman and over the Kodja Balkans” to Pazardzhik, and Philippopolis (Plovdiv) – “most beautifully situated”, – before riding through Haskovo and Harmanli – “the last town in Roumelia” – crossing into what was then Turkey at Mustapha Pasha (now Svilengrad in Bulgaria) and today’s border at Edirne, where he continued onward towards Iran.
- By Thomas Stevens.
- Published by Sampson, Lowe, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London.
September 1888 – Published 1895.
From the Clyde to The Jordan.
“Narrative of a bicycle journey” was the first illustrated account by a rider of a “modern day bicycle”, and followed Scottish clergyman Hugh Callan – the same author of “Wanderings on Wheel and on Foot Through Europe” – on his ride from Glasgow to Jerusalem, which had previously appeared seven years earlier as a more in depth series of articles in the Glasgow Herald – the Bulgarian section published on 3rd, 10th and 24th November, 1888.
Charting the author’s progress on a “Singer” safety bicycle, he enters Bulgaria from Caribrod (Dimitrovgrad), Serbia, cycling over “the terrible Dragoman Pass” to Slivnitsa and Sofia, accompanied by two fellow cyclists he met on route; one an Austrian, the other a Bulgarian and brother of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Continuing on through Pobit Kamak, Vakarel, Ihtiman, and over the Gate of Trajan – “probably the richest and loveliest great tract of land I have seen in all the Balkan regions” – he continued on to “Tatar Bazardjik” (Pazardzhik), and Philippopoli (Plovdiv) – “no mean city” – crossing into what was then Turkey at Mustapha Pasha (now Svilengrad, Bulgaria) and today’s border at “Adrianopole” (Edirne), where he continued onward towards Istanbul. referring to Thomas Stevens’ earlier effort by pointing out, “from Trajan’s Gate to Constantinople I was only the second cyclist to pass, and the first with a low machine.”
- By Hugh Callan.
- Published by Blackie & Son, London.
THROUGH SLAVONIA AND SERVIA.
“When my English passport is produced he examines it, and straightway assures me of the Bulgarian official respect for an Englishman by grasping me warmly by the hand.
The passport office is in the second story of a mud hovel, and is reached by a dilapidated flight of out-door stairs. My bicycle is left leaning against the building, and during my brief interview with the officer a noisy crowd of semi-civilized Bulgarians have collected about, examining it and commenting unreservedly concerning it and myself.
The officer, ashamed of the rudeness of his countrymen and their evidently untutored minds, leans out of the window, and in a chiding voice explains to the crowd that I am a private individual, and not a travelling mountebank going about the country giving exhibitions, and advises them to uphold the dignity of the Bulgarian character by scattering forthwith.
But the crowd doesn’t scatter to any appreciable extent ; they don’t care whether I am public or private ; they have never seen anything like me and the bicycle before, and the one opportunity of a lifetime is not be lightly passed over.
They are a wild, untamed lot, these Bulgarians here at Zaribrod, little given to self-restraint.”
~ Around The World on a Bicycle, Thomas Stevens (1887).