I Cycled Into The Arctic Circle, James Duthie (1957)

The moving account of a deaf man’s cycling tour through the Low Countries, Scandanavia to Lap Land

Northern Publishers paperback 104pp 6/-

Duthie was known fondly in his home village of Cairnbulg, Aberdeenshire as Dummy Jim. A keen cyclist until his untimely death in a collision with a car in 1965, in this book he records a trip from northern Scotland, to the Low Countries, and Scandinavia, travelling to the northerly territories suggested by the title.

The ride took place between May and August in 1951, so possibly this is not the first impression. Duthie reputedly sold copies of the book door-to-door around the north east of Scotland.

The tale has a powerful charm – indeed, something of a cult not attaches to the book, and a film of Duthie’s life is in development.

Clearly being without hearing or the ability to speak conventionally constitutes very considerable disabilities, so much so that to have undertaken such a journey without support is impressive. Duthie makes little of it, though, and would have readers believe that he achieved no more than anyone else covering such a distance by bike. Nor does he makes much of the cycling itself, concentrating instead on notes about the people he encounters and tourist-book background to some of what he sees.

Throughout his travels, though, he does meet with other deaf mutes (his description) and calls by many institutions established for the welfare of deaf people. His recording of this international network, largely unknown outside deaf circles, is his most poignant revelation.

Many are friends and contacts that Duthie made on previous European cycling forays.
Part of the appeal is the naive quality of the narrative – a characteristic of many travelogue-style books of the time. And although Duthie damns his education (at Donaldson’s School for the Deaf, in Edinburgh) for selling him short, he was both intelligent and reasonably well-connected – he mentions and acquaintance with an Aberdeen university professor.

The book is not without its mysteries, however. Duthie frequently describes having had pleasant conversations with people that he encountered. Some of these were almost certainly in sign language, which possibly translates rather more easily than its audible counterparts. Given the number of chats that he has, they cannot all have been. Perhaps he communicated in writing. Certainly a ‘conversation book’ would explain the meticulousness of his recording of the names of those that he encountered.

Purple description is not Duthie’s style – although he does encounter sufficient evidence of world war two, particularly in the far north to give a feel for how long half submerged navel wrecks and damage to roads and infrastructure hung around. He also casts himself as such a likeable character that, if this were one of a series, I would be looking out for the next one.

If the film makes it to the silver screen, no doubt the book will be republished. If it does, its well worth seeking out.

PS June 11