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Around the county

3 Sep 2013
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Oxford might be bike-minded, but sadly that's not true of the rest of Oxfordshire. In big towns like Banbury and Witney, only the newer housing estates have any provision for cyclists; there’s rarely anything to get you into the town centres, let alone across them. Cherwell District Council, in the north of the county, has a nasty habit of pedestrianising useful roads and banning bikes from them.

Bicester, which has expanded rapidly in recent years, is better with a couple of useful town centre routes. South of Oxford, there's a good cycling culture in the Harwell, Milton and Didcot area, where science companies attract bike commuters from Oxford.

There’s some lovely rural cycling in Oxfordshire, particularly in the Cotswolds to the north and west, and the Downs south of Didcot. Busy roads, country estates and the River Thames can make it difficult to get from the city to the country, though: our map will help you find a way through.