An interesting start for today, we are told that Charlie’s friend Tom Idle is restarting his riding career, except that we didn’t yet know that he’d stopped !  I think it may have been a case of winter lay-off, rather than a complete stop.

However, they hadn’t gone all that far before they get lost in the lanes, to the extent that Charlie bemoans the fact that this happens every time they go out.  I cannot imagine why he is complaining, they go out looking for tracks to zoom down and thereby get lost, so what is the problem ?  I note the original run took place at the beginning of February, 1924, and as they covered 76 miles that day, on old boneshakers, they should be accorded due recognition, how many cyclists go out for 76 miles in early February these days ?