I'D like to thank Neil Talbot for his witty and erudite comments in last week's Advertiser on the 'perfectly good expensive cycle path' that cyclists aren't using. Should he actually try cycling from the town to the base, he would discover that there is, in fact, no such thing.

From Helensburgh to Kidston it is more broken up than the road and suitable only for cyclists with mountain bikes (and no loose fillings), from Kidston to the marina it is a footpath with a couple of extra signs. From there, it is almost adequate (but still shared with pedestrians, dogs and pushchairs).

Then it gets 'excellent' where you have to stop, cross the road at the lights (delaying cars by more than they would by waiting safely behind the cyclists until it is safe to overtake) and head up Manse Brae and round the back of Rhu, and then along the wind tunnel past Blairvadach, before crossing the road again at the base.

Given that statistically a cyclist is most likely to be knocked off at a junction and the route requires cyclists to give way at every driveway and junction on the route, cyclists are thinking of their safety when they stick to the road, where they are perfectly entitled to be. When the 'cyclepath' is also unswept, ungritted and in a shocking state of repair, that goes double.

He may also like to consider that every cyclist on the road is one less car, one more parking space and significantly less likely to be a burden on the NHS.

Justin Beattie, Helensburgh