Three Men on the Bummel

Three Men on the Bummel (also known as Three Men on Wheels) was published in 1900, eleven years after his most famous work, Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

The story revives the three companions who featured in Three Men in a Boat, this time their journey taking them on a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. Written during the Victorian era bicycle-craze. in a light-hearted way it’s a commentary on German culture at the time told through the eyes of the hapless British tourist.

The narrator fills us in further: “A ‘Bummel’,” I explained, “I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when it’s over.”