Our columnist Lesley Brain heads off on a cycling tour of the Cotswolds... as long as the champagne and beer doesn’t get in the way 

It was an innocent, throwaway remark that got me into this mess.

At a prestigious candlelit supper (more of that another time) I happened to mention that I have travelled the world and know my way around Brisbane, Bangkok and Berlin better than the Cotswolds in which I live.

Our hostess, ever eager to facilitate a guest's needs, suggested a cycle trip along the Slad valley as being a suitable starting point.

Being a person with a lifetime of saying 'yes' when 'no' would be a wiser option, I found myself researching the availability of bikes to hire.

Did you know that Tetbury pulsates with such opportunities?

I speak with a charming woman at Bainton bikes which offers a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week self-service.

Using an app and Bluetooth, she says, you can lock and unlock bikes at your leisure and go where you wish.

There is a bike waiting just two minutes from my home.

Hold your handlebars, madam, there is shopping to be done first.

I have garments and equipment for most eventualities, including scuba diving and badminton, but cycling gear is noticeably absent.

Later, aided by the excellent Fillies dress shop in Tetbury and some judicial online purchasing, I am prepared, if not for the cycling at least for the apres-cycling drinks and light supper.

I borrow a helmet and practise wearing it about the house. It is a hideous sight.

But my friend (let me call her Hyacinth) has organised a picnic hamper using her Fortnum and Masons wicker basket and goodies from Jesse Smiths and Quayles.

Typically, she has a first edition of Laurie Lee which she plans we should read aloud while sipping a light champagne.

I procure a map of a cycle route through the valley and note it is 37 kilometres.

No mention is made of a key factor in cycling. Potholes!

Never having ridden a bike before this is akin to a non-swimmer putting on water wings and trying the English Channel. With sinkholes.

We decide to throw the bikes in the back of the Range Rover, drive to Stroud and commence our ride close to our destination.

It is just a week into the new year and bitterly cold.

Slad is a tiny village overlooking a green and tranquil valley, so English it could not be anywhere else.

The Wildlife Way is a five-mile walk dotted with ten poetry posts featuring the works of Laurie Lee.

A glance and you can see it is wonderful.

We settle into the Woolpack Inn and have fun with a donated horn to be blown 'when lonesome', admire the myriad dogs, and drink Uley beer.

A visit to Holy Trinity Church, aglow with candles and goodwill, and we meet delightful Mr Woods, who offers coffee after the service, then on to Laurie Lee's grave.

On the way home we call at the fabulous Lavender Bakehouse at Chalford for heavenly cake and tea.

We are going to enjoy this getting to know the Cotswolds lark, Mapp and Lucia style. The bikes remain unridden but tomorrow is another day.