THE recent appearance of little signs at the entrances to a local churchyard really brightened my day and got me thinking about senseless bans on cycling more generally.

One of the few gripes for people cycling in Charlbury was the one-way system, needed because parked cars reduce narrow Market Street to a single carriageway. The detour adds a half a mile to what would be a very short journey from the train station on the Burford road to the town centre. For drivers that’s a bit of a hassle but no biggie – it takes a minute or two. But half a mile up a steep hill, or pushing a bike along the Market Street pavement – only just wide enough for one person – was a real nuisance with a bike.

Then these lovely little signs appeared: “One who moves too hurriedly misses the way. – Proverbs 19: 2. Considerate cycling welcome!” and abracadabra – cycling is now permitted on the path through St Mary’s churchyard.

It has given people on bikes the shortcut they so needed. This simple change goes a long way to making cycling in this small Cotswold town a whole lot more appealing. Plus routing cyclists through the town centre, rather than going around the edge of town, has got to be good for the shops and pubs.

It was the initiative of the new vicar at St Mary’s. The Rev Dr Sally Welch was previously at St Margaret’s and St Giles in Oxford, so perhaps she experienced the beauty of the bicycle during her time there.

The signs were designed by local councillor Richard Fairhurst – also Sustrans ranger, cartographic genius and St Mary’s Church organist. They’re based on the light-hearted signs used on Regent’s Canal towpaths in north London: “Be more tortoise and less hare”.

Interestingly, St Mary’s in Charlbury isn’t the first church in Oxfordshire to open their land up to people on bikes. Holy Trinity in Headington Quarry, where CS Lewis is buried, also allows cycling along the churchyard path.

Usually, churchyard paths don’t really go anywhere, or at least, nowhere unique. In Witney, for example, the path up one side of St Mary’s is closed to bikes, but that barely matters because you can cycle up Station Lane on the other side and get to Church Green all the same. But in Charlbury the one-way system makes this churchyard access invaluable.

Looking to other obvious yet ridiculous bans on bicycles, it would be wonderful if the Broad Walk across Christ Church Meadow could be opened up to bikes. Linking Rose Lane with Folly Bridge would mean avoiding bus-choked High Street and St Aldate’s. What an amazing detour that would be, and there’s bags of space. Currently the barrier at Rose Lane, presumably to prevent bicycles getting in, is so damned elaborate that you can’t even get a child’s buggy through. Okay, so the suggestion 80 years ago to build a four-lane highway across Christ Church Meadow was crass. But a few bicycles? Per-lease!

Still, nothing comes close to the antisocial signs in University Parks: “No bicycles, whether ridden or not”. What on earth could be wrong with riding a bicycle through the park, never mind having the temerity to get off and push? My four-year-old loves riding in University Parks. Should I stop her?