cling _en tandem_ (and even touring in the same manner) was in
vogue, if not the fashion, we had heard of John O'Groat's house, and
we had seen Land's End many a time coming up Channel. We knew, too,
that among scorching cyclists "Land's End to John O'Groat's" was a
classic itinerary for those who would boast of their prowess and
their grit.

All this passed and then came the automobile. "Land's End to John
O'Groat's" is nothing for an automobile, though it is the longest
straightaway bit of road in all Britain, 888 miles, to be exact. If
you are out for a record on an automobile you do it as a "non-stop"
run. It's dull, foolhardy business that, and it proves nothing except
your ability to keep awake for anything between thirty-six and
forty-eight hours, which you can do just as well sitting up with a
sick friend.

In spite of the banal sound that the very words had for us, "Land's
End to John O'Groat's" had a perennial fascination, and so we set out
with our automobile to cover this much, talked of itinerary, with all
its varied charms and deficiencies, for, taking it all in all, it is
probably one of the hilliest roads in Britain, rising as it does over
eight distinct ranges of what are locally called mountains, and
mountains they virtually are when it comes to crossing them by road.

[Illustration: Map of Land's End to John O'Groats]

There is nothing very exciting to be had from a tour such as this,
though it is nearly a nine hundred mile straight-away promenade. For
the most part one's road lies through populous centres, far more so
than any American itinerary for a reliability trial for automobiles
that was ever conceived. Many are the "_events_" which have been run
over this "Land's End--John O'Groat's" course, and the journey has
proved the worth or worthlessness of many a new idea in automobilism.

The modern automobile is getting complicated, but it is also becoming
efficient, if not exactly approaching perfection as yet. The early
days of automobiling were not fraught with so many technicalities as
to-day, when the last new thing may be a benzine bus or a turbine
trailer; formerly everything was simple and crude,--and more or less
inefficient. To-day many cars are as complicated as a chronometer and
require the education of an expert who has lived among their
intricacies for many months in order to control their vagaries and
doctor their ills, which, if not chronic, are as varied as those of
an old maid