l DODGE the buses on the Cowley Road, negotiate the chaos of Frideswide Square – or enjoy the rolling hills and quiet lanes of the Cotswolds?

I know where my “cycling heaven” is, and it’s not Oxford (Honour Tomkinson’s column, July 1).

Perhaps Honour was relying on a dodgy satnav to point the way, like a true city-dweller disorientated by the sight of cows. But she seems to have missed the best of the Cotswolds — where there are miles of almost traffic-free roads if you know where to look.

That’s why there’s a delightful new National Cycle Network route across the area, Oxfordshire’s first for ten years, signposting the winding tree-lined lanes through Charlbury and Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh and Chipping Campden.

Despite the best efforts of traffic engineers and their one-way systems, bikes are still a common sight for everyday journeys here in this little Cotswold town.

The suggestion that "everyone relies on" the car would be news, too, to the 270,000 passengers who use Charlbury station every year — or to the people, young and old, who cram onto our local buses, so busy that extra evening services have just been laid on.

Yours, car-free in the Cotswolds.

RICHARD FAIRHURST, Market Street, Charlbury


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