Three Men on the Bummel

Three Men on the Bummel (1900) is a comical travelogue by Jerome K. Jerome. The three companions are on a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. What does Bummel mean? D. C. Browning writes “The title must be puzzling to many readers, for 'bummel' will not be found in English dictionaries.” You can learn it's meaning at the last chapter of the book, which is a series of humorous vignettes, each of which builds slowly, through accumulation of layer on layer of detail, through several pages. Most of them concern bicycling, genial commentary on German culture from the point of view of a British tourist, or situation-comedy-like depictions of interpersonal interactions between the characters.