Travellers’ tales: TE Lawrence’s wheel tracks

Inspired by a 1908 cycling tour of France by a young TE Lawrence (later Lawrence of Arabia), I went to France in summer 2022 to retrace some of it.

It wasn’t the first time I had followed his route, but retirement now meant I could cover more of his seven-week, 2,000-miles-plus journey in one go. I restored the 1989 Dawes Galaxy I had used for my previous trips.

Lawrence’s letters and photographs from 1908 still survive, so I took a similar camera and tripod with me to retake his photographs. My camera and films went in one pannier and clothes went in the other.

A bar bag, plus a tripod on the rear carrier, completed my luggage. Like Lawrence, I planned to stay in cheaper hotels.

I started from Le Havre in June and headed east to Compiègne, then south via Soissons, Provins and Vézelay to Le Puy. Lawrence’s route then climbs to 1,200m before a long freewheel down to the Rhône at Valence.

Avignon and Arles followed, and I reached the Mediterranean at Aigues-Mortes. It was nice to have a dip in the sea and feel, as Lawrence did, the sense of achievement.

The temperatures were getting up to 40°C now, so it was pleasant to follow the Canal du Midi’s shady cycle path from Carcassonne to Toulouse. There I caught an overnight train to Paris and resumed Lawrence’s route home from Chartres to St Malo.

I averaged 41 miles per day, a bit less than Lawrence. My only mechanical problems over 1,400 miles were two punctures. Lawrence reckoned to have had 34! I found that the old camera, with a bicycle, was a real conversation piece.