Now you don't often see this

I've spent the last twenty minutes rattling my way, as usual, along shitty, bone shaking road surfaces and running the familiar, lightning-quick risk assessments in my head. Grit your teeth and smash your poor, long-suffering bicycle over that broken up gully surround with a crevasse either side or swerve into the path of the traffic to avoid it and to hell with the consequences? Deliberately ride in the middle of the lane past that central refuge or allow the motorist you can hear accelerating behind to try and squeeze the car between you and the island?

Even assuming it was legal to cycle on the footway, there isn't one.

An HGV driver politely waits behind me for a suitable opportunity to overtake (thank you, HGV drivers, as you are undoubtedly the most courteous) and then a car driver nearly shaves my pedal off at around 50mph in a 40 zone. Don't worry - there's enough room for me, the car and the other HGV coming in the opposite direction. Just.

Then I get onto a brand new stretch of the A327, near Wokingham. I think, did that driver hit me after all, and I've died and gone to heaven?

A real, proper, well designed, off road cycle track AND a similar bridleway further on. Wow.

Thank you!