I FEEL that Janice Lightly's support for the proposed Wye Valley Cycleway (Letters, December 7) is somewhat naive.

She fails to acknowledge the enormous scale of the proposed cycleway. No-one wants to deter local cyclists or even a few visitors from using the bridleways, but this proposal is for cycling on a grand scale.

Sustrans estimates 170,000 cycle visits per year of which some 80,000 will arrive by car It does not need a master mathematician to work out that this represents several thousand a week in the summer months.

They will make demands for long stay parking and, if they choose to start at Monmouth or Chepstow, they will not find sufficient parking capacity, particularly on Saturdays at peak time for existing local and tourist parking.

Janice rightly says that the cycleway should not be compared to a quarry development – it will be worse; a 20 mile scar long the entire length of the valley from Monmouth to Chepstow.

If the cycleway is built it will be promoted heavily by Sustrans and the numbers quoted above may be an under-estimate of the eventual demand, as has been shown with other national cycleway routes.

We must not let the beautiful Wye Valley it its Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is loved by walkers, fishermen, botanists, artists, ornithologists all co-existing happily to be turned into a recreation centre for mass cycling. – A. Thomas, Devauden, Chepstow.