This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler [Picture: Book cover] [Picture: Starting from G.P.O. in Lombard Street] _The_ GREAT NORTH ROAD The Old Mail Road to Scotland _By_ CHARLES G. HARPER * * * * * LONDON TO YORK * * * * * _Illustrated by the Author_, _and from old-time_ _Prints and Pictures_ [Picture: Title Figure (man on bicycle)] LONDON: CECIL PALMER OAKLEY HOUSE, BLOOMSBURY STREET, W.C. 1 * * * * * _First published in_ 1901 _Second and Revised edition_, 1922 * * * * * Printed in Great Britain by C. TINLING & Co., LTD., 53, Victoria Street, Liverpool and 187, Fleet Street, London. * * * * * IN LOVING MEMORY OF HERMAN MORONEY “_I expect to pass through this world but once_. _Any good_, _therefore_, _I can do_, _or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature_, _let me do it now_. _Let me not defer or neglect it_, _for I shall not pass this way again_.” _Attributed to_ WILLIAM PENN. PREFACE. [Picture: Preface heading] _WHEN the original edition of the_ “GREAT NORTH ROAD” _was published—in_ 1901—_the motorcar was yet a new thing_. _It had_, _in November_, 1896, _been given by Act of Parliament the freedom of the roads_; _but_, _so far_, _the character of the nation’s traffic had been comparatively little changed_. _People would still turn and gaze_, _interested_, _at a mechanically-propelled vehicle_; _and few were those folk who had journeyed the entire distance between London and Edinburgh in one of them_. _For motor-cars were still_, _really_, _in more or less of an experimental stage_; _and on any long journey you were never sure of finishing by car what you had begun_. _Also_, _the speed possible was not great enough to render such a long __journey exhilarating to modern ideas_. _It is true that_, _the year before_, _the_ “_Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland_,” _not yet become the_ “_Royal Automobile Club_,” _had in its now forgotten role of a_ “_Society of Encouragement_” _planned and carried out a_ “_Thousand Miles Tour_,” _which had Edinburgh as its most northern point_; _but it was a very special effort_. _Those who took part in it are not likely to forget the occasion_. * * * * *