Bonnie/Colin,
The story you cite about the bicycle trip is expounded upon in a chapter that never got into the Mighty Men book. In the chapter, Chaplain Brown mentions that if he lived to be 80, it was a day in his life he'll never forget. He made a committment to preach in London, and based on his value system that meant he had to go to London. Having no train service or no car from the motor pool available did not prevent him from bicycling there so he could make good on his committent.
The reason he had to return the same night he attended mass in London was that the very next day, early morning, he was scheduled to Fly to France and he did not want to miss the flight. Thus he biked back to Ridgewell in the dark with no headlight (it was stolen from his bike while it was in London) arriving at the gate I believe about 4:00am.
I feel that was one day in the life that few have experienced!
Regards,
Bob