Tandem from Twickenham to Cornwall via Salisbury by Tom Lauder

In 1949, in the first full year of our marriage, my wife and I decided to cycle from Twickenham to Coverack for a holiday. We had already bought a second-hand Dawes tandem, which we had used for several weekend visits to Ashdown Forest, Christine's parents' home. After four or five trips over Reigate Hill, we thought we were ready for the big one.

We borrowed a tent, bought a spirit stove, kettle, bowl and frying pan, and acquired a couple of sleeping bags. How we ever packed all that on the bike, together with clothes and rain gear, I cannot now conceive. The plan was to join the A30 at Staines and follow it west until we needed to branch off.

There were few, if any, organised camp sites in those days, so each evening we looked for a likely meadow on which to pitch our tent. We were received by the farmers with a mixture of kindness and curiosity and offers of produce, but all we asked for was a bucket of water and directions to the best spot. Having stocked up during the day with bread, bacon and tomatoes, supper was soon on the go. We were very lucky with the weather, only one really wet day, and apart from a visit by some inquisitive cows, we had good restful nights.

Our first overnight stop was somewhere near Burcombe. Since coming to live in these parts in the seventies we have tried unsuccessfully to find the location, and to work out how we passed through Salisbury before the days of the Churchill Way. Traffic was nothing like it is today; the most regular users of the A30 were the Royal Blue coaches, whose passengers would cheer us on our way.

Our last camping stop was on Bodmin Moor, not far from Jamaica Inn. When we made our usual request for water, the farmer handed me an empty bucket and made an unintelligible sound along with a wave of the hand. Looking around for a standpipe, I came across a spring of clear, sparkling water gushing out of the hillside. What a cup of tea that made, and we felt really refreshed to finish our journey to Coverack next day. Had it not been for the holding power of the tandem's brakes, this might have been the end of our story. As I now know, most Cornish fishing villages have a steep final approach, and but for the aforementioned brakes, we would have ended up over the harbour wall.

In those days, some food was still on ration, but I don't recall any shortages in Coverack, especially on the day our hostess bought half a turbot on the harbour side. The tandem came in handy to visit the Lizard, Land's End and other local beauty spots. We didn't have a single puncture, in fact we only ever had one during our ownership of the bike.

Apart from that one soaking on the outward journey, my recollection is of day-long sunshine; we were in our twenties. The only reverse that springs to mind is of the wasp that stung Christine's sandalled foot while we were relaxing at a tea-room on the return journey. Despite severe swelling, she continued to do her fair share of the propulsion, and bought a palliative from a chemist in Shaftesbury.

Any regrets ? Nowadays I would be slung about with binoculars and camera, but we enjoyed our holiday even so. On our arrival in Ashdown Forest on the Bank Holiday weekend, ma-in-law said she thought we were a couple of gypsies we were so tanned - and in need of a bath, I suspect.

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