Page:Burke, W.S. - Cycling in Bengal (1898).djvu/15

 THE ADVANTAGES OF TOURING.

We have often heard it said that cycle touring is impracticable in India. It is urged that there are no proper roads, that food supplies and shelter are insufficient, that the heat is too great, that there is nothing to see or learn, and that, even if one is foolhardy enough to attempt a run through the country, the pleasure experienced and the benefit derived are ridiculously disproportionate to the labour and discomfort gone through. We have invariably found that these arguments are in the mouths of those who have never ventured beyond municipal limits, and whose practical knowledge of the subject rests on the observations made round and about the Calcutta maidan. Touring is the highest form of enjoyment in cycling, and there can be no doubt that the extreme popularity of the bicycle in England is due in a great measure to the special advantages it offers to tourists, on either a large or a small scale.

Let us consider what can be done on a cycle. A walk of three or four hours' duration in India involves a fair amount of exertion, yet in the course of this time the pedestrian is confined within a comparatively narrow circle; indeed, should he chance to live in