ILFRACOMBE.
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Trips up to 157 Miles. Wonderful Absence of Accidents.
THOMAS COPP, 119, High. Street—This favourite Devonshire holiday resort is weir provided in the matter of motor char-a-banes facilities for summer visitors. Mr. Thomas Copp, for whom Mr. Bruce Copp is manager, runs four motor charsa-bancs, as well as a numiter of horsed vehicles. The motors are known as " The Silver Cars." A favourite trip is to the Boone Valley via Lynton and Lynumuth, where a horsed char-a-basics takes passengers up o Watersmeet and back. For the 40 miles by motor and 20 miles by horse-vehicle, the inclusive cost is 12s. Another interasting trip, for 12s. 6d., is to Dartmoor, with lunch at Okehampton. For the same sum, a popular Monday outing was to Bode, which is the longest drive from Ilfracombe. A daily service is inaintained throughout the season to Clovelly (7s. 6d.) and Lynton
Mr. Copp's fleet consists of two 40 h.p., 24-seated Dennis's, one 40 h.p., 20-seated Maudslay, one 28 h.p., 12-seated Wolseley. One of the Dennis machines is four years old, and the other was purchased a year later. The Maudslay has seen a 1.2-months service, whilst the Wolseley has done two years of work. The machines are kept in service only from Easter until the middle of October, and the average mileage per car per season is 10,000. It will be seen, therefore, that Copp's vehicles are very fully employed during the summer, although the season is none too long.
" The traffic has been exceptionally heavy this season," so writes Mr. Bruce Copp, " owing to the increasing number of North Country visitors, for whom Ilfracombe and particularly its motor-touring facilities are a great attraction. Some of the distances of the return trips we run may interest your readers; Clovelly, 66 miles; Buds, 100 miles ; Lynton, 40 miles; Dartmoor, 157 miles; and Exmoor, 100 miles. The Clovelly trip is certainly the most popular wtili Ilfracombe visitors, but the longer-distance drives, in particular those to Bude, Dartmoor and Exmoor, have grown in popularity as the season advariceicl.." There is considerable competition in Ilfracombe in respect of this class of passenger transport, ;Ind the prices for the trips are very moderate. Mr. Copp's machines, he tells us, have done excellent service, and he cannot speak too highly of their performances. They are attractively painted in silver, lavishly upholstered and have silver-plated fittings. Sonic very severe gradients have to be negotiated, and in one case it is claimed that the slope amounts to 1 in 4. " We use Polack tires exclusively, and have proved them to be highly satisfactory for our class of work. We consider that is remarkable feature about Ilfracombe and its motor traffic is the wonderful assoidanse of any accidents, although the district is the most hilly and the roads are smisngst the narrowest in England."
TORQUAY.