Detective Inspector Barnaby, as played by John Nettles, was certainly no bicycling bobby. But many of us prefer getting from A to B by two wheels and for those Midsomer Murders fans who do, there are plenty of cycling routes of interest in South Oxfordshire.
The Chilterns Cycleway is just one of them. Opened in June 2010, the stunning views of rolling countryside afforded by your climbs up the cycle way’s hills make the journey worthwhile.
Starting at the foot of the 170-mile-long route and travelling in a clockwise westerly direction, you will soon see Wallingford to your left.
Please make a detour to take a look at a town which Agatha Christie called home. If the bustling market square looks familiar it is because the town doubled as ‘Causton’ in Midsomer Murders.
Further northwards will bring you close to Chinnor and a glimpse of the 1930s-style Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway used in Death in a Chocolate Box.
You can then choose to carry on up through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire or take a short cut across country to stay in South Oxfordshire.
Doing so will take you a stone’s throw away from Stonor. Don’t forget that pretty Stonor Cricket Club featured heavily in one particularly memorable DCI Barnaby investigation.
Henley-on-Thames awaits at the end of the cycle way. If all this cycling leaves you thirsty just stop off at the Argyll public house (the sight of which will be familiar from Last Year’s Model).
After all that exercise you probably deserve a foaming pint of South Oxfordshire Ale!