n average of one hundred miles per
day was quite enough to thoroughly satisfy us, and even with such an
apparently low average as this, a day's rest now and then did not
come amiss.

[Illustration: SUNSET ON THE MOOR.

From Painting by Termohlen.]

It would be better yet if one's time permitted a still lower daily
mileage. Not the least delightful feature of the tour was the marvelous
beauty of the English landscapes, and one would have a poor appreciation
of these to dash along at forty or even twenty-five miles per hour.
There were many places at which we did not stop at all, and which were
accorded scant space in the guide-books, that would undoubtedly have
given us ideas of English life and closer contact with the real spirit
of the people than one could possibly get in the tourist-thronged towns
and villages.

V

THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW

I shall say but little of Chester, as of every other place on the line
of our journey so well known as to be on the itinerary of nearly
everybody who makes any pretensions at touring Britain. The volumes
which have been written on the town and the many pages accorded it in
the guide-books will be quite sufficient for all seekers after
information. Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed with Chester. I had
imagined its quaintness that of a genuine old country town and was not
prepared for the modern city that surrounds its show-places. In the
words of an observant English writer: "It seems a trifle
self-conscious--its famous old rows carry a suspicion of being swept and
garnished for the dollar-distributing visitor from over the Atlantic,
and of being less genuine than they really are. However that may be, the
moment you are out of these show-streets of Chester, there is a singular
lack of charm in the environment. The taint of commerce and the smoke of
the north hangs visibly on the horizon. Its immediate surroundings are
modern and garish to a degree that by no means assists in the fiction
that Chester is the unadulterated old-country town one would like to
think it." Such a feeling I could not entirely rid myself of, and even
in following the old wall, I could not help noting its carefully
maintained disrepair. I would not wish to be understood as intimating
that Chester is not well worth a visit, and a visit of several days if
one can spare the time; only that its charm was, to me, inferior to that
of its more unpretentious neighbors, Shrewsbury and