Archivephotograph
Early days of trail riding in among the hills, lakes and fells of North West England’s Lake District.
In an article published in May 1920, writer George D Abraham – a climber and photographer, the D standing for Dixon, born 1871, died 1965, who made photographic records of many of the pioneer climbers and wrote many books, including The Complete Mountaineer and Mountain Adventures at Home and Abroad, among others – rather poetically lamented the wet weather blighting England as spring turned to summer.
“Record rainfalls have been the rule… there seemed small chance of the arrangements for a day among the hills come to fruition. However, just as it is darkest before dawn, so may it be dampest before the drought, and three days and nights of sodden downpour culminated in a glorious morning of sunny splendour.”
With the weather favourable, Abraham and his pals assembled.
“We set our faces southwards from the Lakeland metropolis amidst a goodly crowd of machines, mostly recent models. Some were suitable and some perchance unsuitable for the work in hand, but there would be a keen pleasure in comparing their behaviour on mountain roads with the doings of former times.”
The objective was Blea Tarn Pass, a route that had been in discussion of late over its suitability – or otherwise – for inclusion in motorcycle trials. The caption which appeared with the shown photograph read: “At the summit of Blea Tarn Pass with the lofty Langdale Peaks in the background. A group of the successful riders who reached the top of this notorious Pass from Great Langdale.”
To the fore of the group is a Sunbeam, presumably the one ridden by T Rutherford “who showed how it should be done”, while the sidecar is most likely a Sunbeam also – perhaps that of Macdonald, though it seems Rutherford may have actually driven it to reach the summit. Other sidecar outfits (including Captain T D Craig’s 6hp AJS, driven on this section by J J Dias) made it up, as did several other machines, with among those mentioned the 2½hp Clyno of R Pape, who “made one of the best ascents of the day.”
There were many machines involved, the riders of which had descended upon the
New Hotel at Dungeon Ghyll. Said Abraham: “At lunch time we had a wonderful exhibition of what can be done at an out-of-the-world English inn when between 30 and 40 unexpected guests arrive.”
The picturesque hotel looks very much today as it would 100 years ago, sat among six acres of mature garden and pastures and apparently being built on a medieval settlement – so it was already a wellestablished site by the time our band of riders enjoyed their luncheon!
There’s no mention of what machine Abraham was riding, though others are credited – there were several Triumphs, BSAs, AJSs, Ariels, as well as T Gibson’s
NUT, T B Westmorland’s 8hp Matchless outfit and, most interestingly of all, Helder’s “new Regent machine, which is fitted with a 5-7hp Coventry Victor engine and threespeed gear.”
Regent motorcycles were built at Regent works, Hampton Wick, Middlesex, between 1919 and 1920, from the ideas of a group of ex -servicemen who wanted to establish a quality marque. It seems they bought in the fore-and-aft flat-twin 689cc Coventry-Victor engine and a frameset from Coventry’s Morton and weaver (who were the company behind Coventry-Victor) with the express intention of making 3000 motorcycles in 1920. They didn’t achieve anything like that and quickly disappeared from the market, though the one involved in our enterprise apparently made “a fine ascent” – yet it wouldn’t seem to feature in our picture.
There’s not many clues to identifying the other machines featured in our picture either, from the angle they’re photographed and the darkness of the image, though the model plum centre looks quite lightweight (as opposed to its rider, who looks quite a big lad) so maybe it’s the Clyno, while second from left could perhaps be an AJS from the days before they adopted the black and gold finish. Still, whatever the motorcycles, it’s a fantastic picture of what looks like was a grand day out.