PELOTOME

October 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 Israel section (then an independent district of the Ottoman Empire, known as the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem), was published on 5th and 26th February, 1889.

Charting the author’s progress on a “Singer” safety bicycle, he enters modern day Israel at the port of Jaffa (now part of Tel Aviv), on an Egyptian steamer from Mersin, Turkey, via Beirut (Lebanon), becoming “the first on the Holy Land” to ride a bicycle, cycling through Ramla, “with its sands and its tower,” Latrun (now a depopulated Palestinian village in the West Bank), and Bab al-Wad (Sha’ar HaGai), “the door of the valley”,

“Up and down incessantly the road leads, hill after valley and valley after hill all the way, with lights gleaming far and near from rocks and ruins, showing sites of world-wide interest,” to the “holiest of holy places, dear to all men’s hearts, JERUSALEM.”

Exploring the region, he visits Nabi Samwil (Palestine), Mount Olivet, and both Bethlehem and Hebron (West Bank, Palestine), before returning to Jaffa and catching a Russian ship to Port Said, Egypt, and onward by steamer to London, arriving on 1st December 1888, after covering 2,800 miles by bicycle over four months.

• By Hugh Callan.
• Published by Blackie & Son, London.

March 1889 – Published 1890.

Round About The World on Bicycles.

“The pleasure tour of G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes, Melbourne Bicycle Club, Australia,” follows George Burston and Harry Stokes on their 56-inch high-wheel bicycle journey around the world, setting off from Melbourne, on 1st November 1888, arriving back in Australia on the 14th December 1889.

The Israel and Palestine section of their journey (then an independent district of the Ottoman Empire, known as the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem), was chronicled in The Australasian. on 17th August and 7th September, 1889.

Arriving at Jaffa (Tel Aviv) on a Russian steamer from Port Said, Egypt, they negotiated a customs fee allowing them to ride their bicycles to Jersualem, taking the route previously traversed by Hugh Callan; passing “interesting relics of ancient days, as described in that best of guide books to Palestine—the Bible ; so that the description of this part of our ride must be regarded as Sunday reading.”

Speeding through Ramla, and past “the ruins of” Tel Gezer, they then “descend a steep hill, and pedal across the wide valley of Ajalon” – “It is indeed difficult to describe the wonderful feelings one experiences in pedalling swiftly across such places as these.”

Reaching Latrun (now a depopulated Palestinian village in the West Bank), they “ascend the mountains of Judea” descending “in great style” to Kiriath-Jearim, and Jerusalem, exploring the city’s ancient sites and Mount Olivet, before riding on horse with guides (in the West Bank, Palestine) to Mar Elias Monastery, Solomon’s Pools, and Bethlehem, over a dangerous mountain pass to Mar Saba – “a remarkable place,” – “travelling through decidedly wild country,” to the Dead Sea, the banks of the River Jordan, and Jericho. They return to Jerusalem via Bethany (al-Eizariya). and Gethsemane.

Cycling back to Jaffa in exactly five hours – “This was a record which the people would not believe without further proof. A bicycle is a great rarity, and the people have not the slightest idea of the distance or speed we can travel.” – they caught an Anglo-Austrian steamer to Beirut, Lebanon, via Haifa (modern day Israel, but then part of the Ottoman Empire called the Vilayet of Beirut),

• by G.W. Burston and H.R. Stokes.
• Published by George Robertson and Company, Melbourne, Australia “for private circulation only”