Girl cyclists touring Ireland

This story is taken from an interview with Alice Morrison at Our Lady’s Nursing Home, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions. The interviewer was David Reid, and the transcription was by Bruce Logan.
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[GI Dances]
Oh yes. And we used to meet, when we were out on the bikes, and we would stop for a wee rest. Or we would stop to have, a great one for saying was “taking a knock”. That’s what you said when you were hungry, you said “I’ve got the knock”. You got up primus stoves and what have you, and pull in and have a wee meal, cups of tea and things like that. Never worried. That didn’t stop us. We never said “There might be an air raid”. We used to worry, thinking about our parents, mum and dad there. But we missed nothing. Away off we went and that was it, like. The … But as I was saying, we used to go along the road and there was these American cops there and they used to come round and say “Where are you from?” and you’d say … “And you cycled the whole way? Can I take a ride on your bike?”
and they really loved it. Sometimes they’d take it away up the road.
“They might go off with them, and god knows when we’d get them back again”. Our bikes were part of us. But no, they always came back with them. It used to be, they went away over into the camp and they came back with nylon stockings. And they used to, if any of them had got cigarettes. Anybody that smoked. But none of them, one or 2 of our friends smoked.

Ach, we had great auld laughs with them. I think they thought we were a lot of head-bins, you know? Probably did. I think of it now, I do. When we were out on the road, and of course we kept a knot to pull in, or I can think of manys a time. 2 of our friends, 2 or 3 of them were lovely singers, they loved singing. And I can remember, I always think about it, even now when I’m going through Carnlough. Do you know Carnlough? You know just as you’re going down there’s a long walk, and a wall? And we used to come up and sit on that, and I think about that. And we used to start and all the songs we’d sing. “red sails in the sunset”, and all about the water and the moonlight. We used to sit and sing. The people, they got used to us and had a laugh and all. Like, when I think of it now, talk sometimes about the young ones and all they do, “my god, when we were young, the daft things we done”.

We’d great memories. Of all the different ones we’d met. And there wasn’t a part of Ireland that we weren’t through. When I was in, was moved into the Antrim road there was a ...

There’s not a part of Ireland we didn’t do. It’s just the sort of way they did things. “Anything to declare?” we used to laugh at that. “Anything to declare?” and this girl, she had a trunk “I declare to god I’m famished”, or it’s bucketing down the heavens and all.

But they would have a chat with us and leave it all.

...

Especially up around Cushendun. They got to know us. The war was on. And they would have the eggs for us. Lovely country butter and eggs. We used to pack them all into our saddlebags. And some of them went in, we went in.
One of the police, he says “You know Ireland”.

[Free State]
They weren’t interested. It was [a very different country]. And
We used to go to the hostels, and they were all nice and we got on with them, but maybe somebody from the north would go down there.
Things like that.

We used to hear people saying that. We had the best of friends from the Shankill Road. At the hostel and we went together. A couple of them were really into racing, and they were, wherever their race we went to cheer them on and all, you know? When I remember it now, you just have to get a taxi because my husband was in a nursing home up at the top of the Glen road. And I used to get the taxi over to see him, and I used to say to him about going to Dublin.
“I would hardly do that in my car!”
If there was any races on in Phoenix Park, and we all worked. And Friday we were out, our meeting point, and our meeting point was up at Finaghy, and we all met there, and we cycled down to Dundalk, and there was a hostel there. We went in there for the night. Up in the morning, we all had to do our own wee jobs in the hostel, all help one another. Up and going through Dundalk about 8 o’clock in the morning, to be up, to make our way to Phoenix park to be in time for all the races.
And then Sunday, we all went on the Mass. Any of the Protestant ones, they would have went to their church. And we all met up and cycled on our way home.

[VE Day]
Oh yes. We got in touch with our crowd, everybody was off work. “Oh, what are we going to do?” Anyway, it’s decided “Right, we’ll meet you down there on the Antrim Road, bikes and all with us, to Carnlough. Booked into the hostel, and maybe we have to make our own food and that. We had something to eat, down into the town. Big bonfire in the middle of that, and we all sang all round it, danced round it and all the rest. All hours of the morning, going back to the hostel. It was a special day. The Warden knew, in fact I think the warden might have been down with us. And that was a great time as well.

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