Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean you can’t get out on your bike and where better to go than Christmas Common?

It was a bright Saturday morning – it wasn’t freezing or raining – so we loaded our bikes into a car and drove to Christmas Common.

In the summer, the Chilterns between Christmas Common and Henley are full of cyclists of all persuasions: Oldster CTC-style road tourers with mudflaps on the mudguards; Garishly clad Lycra-lads flashing past on carbon-fibre racers; Families out for the afternoon; And in the woods, mountain bikers bouncing down the trails and bridleways.

It’s no surprise the area around Christmas Common is so popular. It’s easy to get to from Oxford or London (directions below), and there’s something for everyone. There are enough hills to keep you entertained all day, and there isn’t much traffic to interfere with your fun. Just point your handlebars south-east and get lost in the fantastic maze of quiet B-roads and interconnecting off-road routes heading down, ultimately, to Henley. Bring anyone who says there’s no decent mountain biking to be had around Oxford here and they’ll soon change their tune. Not only is the cycling good – there are some wonderful, dense woods and birds of prey in abundance. Buzzards and kites are prevalent. The graceful kite was hunted to extinction in the Chilterns, but a recent programme of re-introduction has been so successful they’re now ubiquitous. In fact, the only (slight) downside to Christmas Common is the lack of watering holes and snack shops – so bring all the water and snacks you need.

You’ll definitely get lost. Obviously, an OS map is essential but even with a compass you’ll never distinguish all the trails and tracks. The good news is it doesn’t matter. You can go round and round, up and down the hills for hours, never once going over old ground and never once knowing exactly where you are. All you need to do is reorient yourselves 45 mins before you want to leave. Find a road and ride a short distance to the nearest named farm or village. Use this to pinpoint your position on the map and make a bee-line back to where you started. It’s a good idea at this stage to stick to the B-roads – bridleways mean you’ll just find yourself utterly lost – again. The only sure way of knowing where you are is if you have a GPS device, and that kind of takes the fun out of the Christmas Common route-lottery.

I’ll describe the route we took, cross-county mountain biking this time, but really any route that’s downhill from Christmas Common is good. Starting at the crossroads near the Fox and Hounds pub in Christmas Common, we follow the bridleway that veers left though Queen Wood and wends its way for miles through the National Trust reserve to Turville. The single-track is fast in the dry, and at the beginning of February it’s still fast but the mud’s the consistency of slurry, slippery on the front wheels. Keep your weight well back. The trail winds down through troughs of brown water and wheel-clamping mud, over logs and past stands of tall birches. At the bottom, we take the road round to Pishill (I don’t know how the locals pronounce that) and head south on the Oxfordshire Way. North of Oxford, the Oxfordshire Way follows family-friendly B-roads, but don’t be fooled by the Chilterns section in February – a gentle route for all cycles in all weathers it ain’t. Back wheels spin uselessly on some of the climbs; only nail-studded motocross tyres are going to get you up these when it’s muddy. But it’s all good. The amount of glorious mud makes this undulating route a real laugh and well worth the effort of hosing down the mud-caked bikes afterwards.

The route goes through Doyley Wood and past Maidensgrove, onto farm tracks but still on the Oxfordshire Way. Don’t be put off: these tracks are fun, and easily as slurry-filled as the bridleways. At the end of Maidensgrove Scrubs, the route forks. We take the left-hand bridleway (not the Oxfordshire Way) down a steep hill to the B480. This point is about 1½ hours into the mudslide, but I can’t say exactly how far as the batteries on the GPS have disconnected with all the bumps (as usual) and the flying mud and branches have dislodged my speedo-transmitter. Usually, this is about where we look for bridleways heading north(ish) again for another round of long climbs and bumpy descents. But not this time – 1½ hours in cold, heavy, wet clothes takes its toll. Our feet are solid blocks of ice, and here comes the Chilterns health warning. No matter what the temperature is in Oxford or London, Christmas Common has the special quality of being at least two degrees colder than it is where you live. That’s a scientifically demonstrated fact, and if you have a means of telling the temperature you can verify this oddity for yourself. (My friend’s car tells you the temperature, amongst other useless facts, in case you think I’m making this up.)

The stingy 7ºC drops to 5ºC on the Ridgeway along the top of the Chilterns, and this reduces to –7ºC with downhill wind chill. The circulation to your feet doesn’t do the trick at this temperature. And our feet have been fully drenched since two potholes into the ride, and the sodden cold has, toe by toe, become gnawing PAIN. The burning sensation as our extremities slowly die conspires to make us more miserable than the ride is giving us pleasure. Even icy water would warm our feet up, a sure sign it’s time to go home. We don’t look for any bridleways, then, but take the most direct yellow lines on the map connecting where our GPS says we are to where the recovery process can begin – at the Fox and Hounds in Christmas Common.

We pedal as fast as our bikes will carry us – not very fast now that I only have about ¼ of gears still working and no braking whatsoever. (Must get a bike with discs: V-brakes are NO match for mud that messy.) The road passes Turville Heath and Northend, and the beacons of the radio masts at Christmas Common beckon us through the thin fingers of the trees in the gloaming. We are so glad to have reached the end that we don’t question the warmth of a pint in the Fox and Hounds. The pub does large but expensive sandwiches and decent soups, as well as more extravagant fare, all of which can be enjoyed in the small garden out the front in the warm weather. In cold weather, the pub’s low beams and open fires are more the ticket.

Pleased with ourselves for at least having made the effort today, we prop up our bikes on the picket fence (theft risk in this Range Rover-ridden area low, we reckon) and take our last squelching steps towards the front door. In the golden lights of the pub, we catch sight of each other and burst out laughing. We’re comically mud-spattered head-to-toe, with not a shred of dry clothing left on which to sit in the pub. This time we’re just too filthy to be at all welcome here, and trudge back to the car, feeling gradually inching back into our toes as we go.

How to get to Christmas Common from Oxford

By bike: cycle to the end of Cowley Road, go under the ring road, and keep going through Stadhampton on the B480 to Watlington, then up the steep hill to Christmas Common.

By bus: there are local services to Watlington from Oxford, but you’re unlikely to be allowed to board with a bike. Instead, take the Oxford Tube ( www.oxfordtube.com) to Lewknor Turn and cycle south (back under the M40) to Watlington, then east to Christmas Common. You should be OK getting a pair of muddy bikes onto the Tube for the return journey.

By car: EITHER take the B480 to Watlington, then to Christmas Common; OR drive to Junction 6 on the M40, then south to Watlington and Christmas Common.

How to get to Christmas Common from London

By bus: take the Oxford Tube from Victoria or west London (times, prices and stops: www.oxfordtube.com ) to Lewknor Turn, cycle south to Watlington and then to Christmas Common.

By car: drive to Junction 6 on the M40, then south to Watlington and Christmas Common.

James Styring