Many thanks to guest blogger, Barbara Towell, for contributing the below post! Barbara is E-Records Manager with Digital Programs & Services at UBC Library and an avid cyclist.
This blog is part two of Kitty and Clara Wilson – Intrepid Sisters on the Move. If you have not read part one, please find it here. In this part I plan on comparing spots Kitty and Clara saw on their ride with those same or similar spots today.
The Rides in Context
Kitty and Clara were already local Vancouver celebrities when they began their cycling tour up the coast of Vancouver Island to Campbell River. In 1936, eighteen months before the first of their Vancouver Island trips, they achieved what every penny-pinching backpacker dreams of: they talked their way onto the British Steam Ship Harmatris, a merchant tanker headed for Australia, securing unpaid employment (in return for passage) as deckhands. They did jobs such as cleaning and painting. This was the first of many merchant tankers on which they sought, and received, passage to their next destination. Their first port-of-call was Melbourne, then on to Tasmania, Australia; Durban, South Africa; Dublin, Ireland; then finally, London England where they planned a cycling trip around the United Kingdom.
In London, they bought second-hand bikes, probably Rastus and Ginger and tried to teach themselves to ride them. Imagine planning a cross-country cycling trip without knowing how to ride a bike? After a few failed attempts and bloodied body parts they agreed, “we will try to learn to ride these just once more and if we crash this time we will sell the bicycles and walk around England” (Vancouver Sun, Dec. 12, 1936). Finally their bikes stayed upright and they embarked on their first cycling tour around the England and Scotland. In 1938 they returned to Vancouver via Panama. Once back in Vancouver, Clara gave talks to women’s groups and interviews to newspapers about their unique and, economical way of seeing the world. Clara always emphasized the thrift of this around the world adventure.
Their cycling travels continued in BC over the next decade. They rode each summer and documented their trips in the photo albums held at Rare Books and Special Collections. What I discovered on our recreation of their trip is that very little of what Kitty and Clara documented in the album and letters home survives – maybe just the road and the ocean, but joy endured, across time, across cyclists.
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Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room closed from December 15 until early 2026
Construction of Main Library. UBC 1.1/1874
The Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives reading room will be temporarily closed from December 15, 2025 until early 2026 for upgrades.
During this period, RBSC and UA will still be able to provide some reproduction services, but instructional support for classes will be unavailable until construction is complete.
Thank you so much for your patience and support during these necessary upgrades. We’re looking forward to reopening RBSC and UA’s public spaces in 2026 and welcoming back UBC faculty, staff and students, visiting scholars, researchers and the wider community. Stay tuned for more updates in the new year!
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