THREE GIRLS ON MOTOR-CYCLES.
HOLIDAY TOUR OF EUROPE.
THE BOOTS LIKED PILLION RIDING.
Daily Mail, May 17, 1928[1] Three well-known women motorcyclists — Miss Marjorie Cottle, Miss Edyth Foley, and Mrs. Louie McLean— a novel form of holiday, have set off to tour Europe by motor-cycle. Their progress and adventures will be described from time to time in these columns by Miss Marjorie Cottle. So far the three, unaccompanied and independent, have attracted both admiration and surprise on the Continent. They will visit Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Sweden. Norway, Denmark, and Holland. The following is a description of the first stage of their journey.
FROM MISS MARJORIE COTTLE. LYON, France.
For months we had looked forward to our tour in Europe, but when it came to doing our packing we were not so certain of the joys of travelling. for how to carry five weeks' luggage on a solo motor-cycle is a very great problem. Having decided to take an absolute minimum and still carry a dress for each occasion, we managed to get all our kit on to the machines without overloading them. Thanks to modern dress design, that solved one of our greatest difficulties. It was very amusing to listen to the various comments about us and our immaculate machines in the boat. One Austrian assured us it was a sight he bad never seen before: "Three damoiselles on the motor-cycles." The crew were quite unable to restrain their curiosity and insisted on informing everyone +how the world had changed. But everyone is convinced that we have chosen the finest and most novel way of seeing the Continent.
THREE LEMONADES!
Thanks to the assistance of the R.A.C., the Customs at Ostend soon let us through, but it was very different at the French frontier, where we were alone. The Customs officers could not speak word of English and our French was not too brilliant, so conversation was a little difficult.
Our troubles started when they wanted 92 francs each tax for our eight days in France. They would not, accept Belgian or English money, and we had not yet got any French. We went to an estaminet close by, but no one knew the exact rate of exchange, so they would not change it. We looked like being there for the rest of the day until at last we discovered that we could get change if we went back to an estaminet at the Belgian frontier, so off we set.
Having collected our money and feeling very thirsty, we ordered three lemonades of "Madame la patronne".
Back we went to Baisieux, expecting to find our papers ready waiting for us, but no such luck. They were so interested in us and our doings that while audibly discussing us and our luggage, they kept us another half an hour. We have decided to allow at least three hours for the Italian Customs!
FOOD PROBLEMS.
Wandering eon further We saw a sign "Five o'Clock Tea" and thought we might risk some, but never again. The cakes were delicious big creamy ones, such as we never got in England, but the tea was awful.
The only thing is to do as France does and drink coffee. We have been unlucky so far with our food. On one occasion In a last despairing attempt to get an English breakfast we ordered boiled eggs. Imagine our amazement when they arrived boiled, certainly, but broken into wine glasses!
We are existing on excellent coffee and rolls now. We have had very little difficulty in finding our way, though last night when we reached Lyon and asked for the Hotel de Paris no one could direct us. At last an eager cyclist volunteered to pilot us there. He pedalled vigorously for about two miles back the way we had come and then proudly pointed to the road to Paris. Then to make matters worse the hotel boots was to take us to the garage, and as it was about half a mile he came on one of the carriers. It was the fist time he had ever ridden pillion and he liked it so much that he took us for a circular tour of Lyon. How we shall get out of the town tomorrow is the burning question. It looks as if we shall have to wait for someone English to pilot us.
From clippings posted by Paul Butler to Early Motorcycle Literature
MERE MALE READERS MAY BE ALARMED to hear that one of the only three clean ascents at a first attempt of a freak hill included in the Liverpool MC’s opening run was made by a lady motor cyclist, Miss Cottle, whose driving skill was, incidentally, one of the outstanding features of two of last year’s open trials in North Wales. There were 92 entrants.
Miss Marjorie Cottle Belies Age-Worn Title
Nowadays one seldom uses the term "weaker sex" when referring to the female element, because in many respects the women of to-day have shown themselves quite capable of tackling successfully many tasks which even a decade ago they would not have dreamed of attempting.
An outstanding example of a young woman competing with great success on even terms with male experts is provided by Miss Marjorie Cottle of Wallasey, England. Miss Cottle is engaged as a competition driver of motor cycles by the B.S.A. Company, and during the past ten years has entered with outstanding success in every motor cycle trial of importance in England and on the Continent. Her collection of cups, medals and other trophies is immense. In some instances these were won in competition with other women motor cyclists, but in most cases Marjorie gained her victories from scratch against the most expert of England’s male riders.
Throughout the world there are many thousands of women motor cyclists, but by her consistently brilliant riding. Miss Cottle has established herself as probably the most famous girl rider of all.
It is significant that in a "sportsmen’s gallery" recently published by one of the leading motoring journals Marjorie occupied ninth place among the world’s leading riders. Miss Cottle has just leaped intq the cable news again by winning the Calthorpe Trophy and first-class award in the English Colmore Cup Motor Cycle Trial against 102 male competitors. The course to be covered was both snow and ice bound, and, although quite a number of the leading riders lost their way, Marjorie plugged on and won her way through to victory once again. There is nothing of the helpless female about Miss Cottle; mechanically-minded, she never seeks assistance. At the same time she is but a mere slip of a woman, and certainly does not create the "he-woman" impression.
In private life she is Mrs. J. A. Watson-Bourne, and, despite her constant participation in competitions, still finds time to attend to domestic affairs.
Australian Cycling & Motor Cycling magazine, April 14th 1932. Trove NLA.
Emphasis added to last para. Ed.
Huw Williams writes: "I had the privilege of meeting Marjorie Cottle many years ago, she used to come to VMCC meetings in Chester. She was still riding around Chester in her '80s on a little Honda scooter!"
Another good story of Marjorie: The Most Famous Lady Rider of Them All: Marjorie Cottle
Notes1. "The Daily Mail has been criticised for its unreliability, its printing of sensationalist and inaccurate scare stories about science and medical research,[16][17][18][19] and for instances of plagiarism and copyright infringement.[20][21][22][23] In February 2017, the English Wikipedia banned the use of the Daily Mail as a reliable source.[24][25][26]" ~ Wikipedia.
