The Two-Wheeled World of George B. Thayer by Kevin J. Hayes

Author:Kevin J. Hayes [Hayes, Kevin J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO011000 Sports & Recreation / Cycling
ISBN: 9780803285217
Publisher: Nebraska
Published: 2015-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

7

The Grand Tour

Crossing the English Channel to begin his tour of the Continent, George Thayer decided to do something in Europe similar to what he had done in Great Britain. Having spent four weeks in London at the end of his British tour, he wished to take the same amount of time to see Paris. But he did not want to do Paris right away. After his London sojourn, he was anxious to get some more miles under his belt, so he decided to zigzag across Europe in a roughly north-south direction before settling in Paris. This trek would take him through Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and northern Italy. Baedekers would guide his way.

His journey across Belgium brought him to Waterloo one Saturday in August 1888. Baedeker recommended two hours to tour the famous battlefield.1 Thayer may have taken longer. He would often dawdle in places that suited his contemplative nature. After strolling around the slightly undulating battlefield, he climbed the two-hundred-foot mound atop which stood the Belgian Lion, a twenty-eight-ton statue cast from the metal of captured French cannon. The man-made mound provided a good vantage point to survey the battlefield; the massive lion statue was something to see in itself. He approached for a better look but flinched as he got close.2 Like Victor Hugo before him, Thayer startled some birds nesting in the lion’s mouth.

Though the Belgian Lion was impressive, Thayer’s most memorable experience in Belgium came the following day. That Sunday morning he entered Liège in a drizzling rain. The city was nearly silent. The only sound disturbing the quiet was the clatter of wooden shoes as children ran across the pavé. He passed through the city center, crossed a bridge over the Vesdre, and turned toward Cologne. Before he cleared the outskirts of Liège, it started to pour. Spying a woodshed behind a cobbler’s house, he sought shelter there. Once Thayer reached the shed, he dismounted, removed his gossamer coat, and spread it on the woodpile. As he was about to take a seat on the woodpile himself to wait out the storm, the cobbler stepped from his home and motioned him to come inside. Thayer entered the house but left his raincoat outdoors.

The cobbler’s wife rushed into the rain to retrieve the coat. She brought it inside and draped it over a chair near their stove. She put Thayer in another chair and had him prop his wet stocking feet on the edge of the stove’s open doorway. Soon Thayer was munching on bread and butter, which he washed down with some steaming hot Belgian coffee.

He stayed until the rain stopped and his gear was dry. He was so grateful that he took out some money and tried to pay the cobbler and his wife, but they frowned upon his gesture. They had helped him from the goodness of their hearts: they expected nothing in return. Thayer thanked them profusely and got back on the road. The simple kindness of the Belgian people meant more to him than any Belgian Lion could.

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