I LOVE living in Wiltshire. I have decided it is by far the best county in the UK, and I have visited many and lived in a few.

I am very lucky to live, quite literally, on the back road to Salisbury, which is one of Wiltshire’s cycleways.

It’s a road that I have been cycling on since I was old enough to cycle alone.

I remember the first time, at the age of 13, I cycled the 20 miles from Warminster to Salisbury and then jumped on the train home with my bike, a Dawes racer, which I had bought with my saved pocket money.

It seemed so far and such a great adventure, with spectacular views. I love cycling because it is exercise with purpose and it can be so rewarding: great scenery and lots of fresh air.

I have a great eight-mile circuit I can fit into my day, which takes me to the beautiful Hanging Langford, a quintessential English village with picture postcard, perfect elements.

Here, nestled within the delightful church, along the fresh, twinkling, meandering of the Wylye River, is the Hanging Langford bird reserve, which is a real ornithological treat.

Along the way, Wiltshire graces me with rolling hills of golden wheat and barley and churning combine harvesters building blocks of bales.

Another, maybe lesser known, inhabitant of the Wiltshire cycleways, whose population rapidly increases between March and September is the MAMIL – Middle Aged Man in Lycra – these come in all shapes and sizes.

Sometimes they are lean and speedy, sometimes they are round and dumpy.

Sometimes they cycle past solo, at great speed and other times in pairs speaking very loudly to each other.

Sometimes they cycle in packs, shouting and laughing.

Outside our front door the seasons can be depicted by the arrival and density of the MAMIL population on the Wiltshire cycleway. We comment to each other in the spring, “Ah! The MAMILS are out –spring is coming”, and when their presence lessens we know winter is upon us and it’s time to order in the wood.

Maybe I could be a MAMIL – Middle Aged Mum in Lycra? I am not quite ready for Lycra, and I am not sure the Wiltshire cycleways are either.