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Father’s motorcycling trips
I thought you might be interested to see these photographs and hear the story behind them. They are of my father, Irwin Opie (1894-1972). He was a chemist by profession who, with his brother, owned several shops in the south west of Cornwall.
A keen photographer as well as a motorcyclist, father’s two-week holiday each year involved trips across Britain, with his cousin Russell riding pillion. Two-up, these were Homeric excursions, taking in not just large portions of England, but up to John o’Groats and across to Anglesey. We have the photos to prove it!
Father’s last motorcycle was a 3½hp Sunbeam captured in one of the accompanying photographs, after which he turned to large touring cars, including Crossley and Alvis towards the end of the 1920s. He also talked of a Calthorpe and a New Imperial-JAP motorcycle, one of which is the machine in my other photograph.
He was always reluctant to talk bikes, probably because I was so desperate to own one as a teenager in the 1950s, by which time he thought modern machines dangerous. At college, I bought one anyway. After the initial row, he was interested, since the only one I could afford was a late 1930s Triumph Tiger 90, 500cc ohv single, bought for £10 from a local garage. The Tiger 90 was closer to his idea of a motorcycle and he shared various stories of his rides, including a sporting side I knew nothing of.
He took part in hill climb competitions across
