Cycling Profile Road Book Of England (1919) Cycling 7cm x 14cm 142pp A pocket book providing distances, altitude profiles and notes on road surfaces, covering journeys between the principal destinations of the Kingdom

It is almost impossible to imagine what it must have been like to cycling around England in the years immediately after the first world war. But within this tiny books' covers are a few clues as to what one might have found setting off awheel in the year of its publication.

Each page shows a profile strip of the route in question - travelling, or course by the main road. To judge by contemporaneous records - like the Pennels - Sunday cycle travellers were quite a common site all over the country. How many were actually venturing around the country as this guide sets out is hard to know. They must have been pretty hardy. 'Road surface is rough', is a common observation.

Before road signs, before many decent maps, before mileometers on bikes, a guide such as this was vital - particularly if you are relying on your own strength and stamina to travel from place to place. I would like to think that my battered and much repaired edition accompanied many epic explorations of our roads. The routes that it describes would be all but impossible to find today. Many will be beneath motorways and duel carriageways. One or two will have been downgraded and forgotten.

If it makes me think one thing, it is this. Why shouldn't we travel from place to place by decent, direct routes? I love tiny, winding back routes - but too often they take you miles out of your way. Perhaps we should nominate a day a year when we reclaim a trunk route for 12 hours. We could change route from year to year, and give other road users plenty of notice. Then we could experience the A5, the A1 and the A4 (designations that post-date this volume) at a speed where they can really be appreciated.

PS June 09