Our Italian friends deliver a cracking event, maybe the 'best ever'!

You have to hand it to the guys of CoMoG for last year's GLME Summer Camp in Italy . Expectations were high and demand for places was huge after it was agreed that they would organise it in Tuscany. But, despite being a fairly new club with not all that many members, they delivered a great event. Some would say it was the best Summer Camp ever.

First of all, there was the location: Tuscany is a dream holiday destination. There's so much to see and do, there's all that history, art and architecture, good hospitality, great food and wine, a sunny, warm climate - and, from a biking point of view, endless twisty roads. We were staying in Pomarance, a typical, charming little hilltop town, in the middle of the region, within easy range of Siena and Florence .

Then there was the accommodation. We've had our share of YHA-type places in our time, but this was in a proper hotel with en-suite rooms. Unfortunately the demand for places meant we were four to a room, rather than the one or two to a room we enjoyed at Exeter in 2003. But you couldn't really complain when you could fling open the shutters on such a fantastic views of the rolling Tuscan hills.

The accommodation was in two buildings - the main hotel, Al Burra, and an annexe round the corner, which also had a beautiful swimming pool, where you could bask in the Tuscan sunshine. And then most importantly our hosts, who worked so hard to make sure we enjoyed ourselves, on bike runs, with meals, with any help needed. CoMoG members must rate very highly in the charming (and good-looking!) stakes.

For the 140-plus members from GLME clubs that were lucky enough to get bookings at this massively oversubscribed event, there were very few disappointments.

More than 30 GBMCC members were there, having made their way from Blighty in small groups, by diverse routes, trying to dodge rain on the way with varying degrees of success. But in Tuscany it was dry, mostly sunny - bliss.

On our first day, Kev and I took it easy by the poolside for most of the day, recovering from the long trip - but late in the afternoon we went two-up on the bike just down the road to San Gimignano with its wonderful medieval towers. It was a good, short run, wearing jeans as it was too warm for full leathers. The tourists had mostly gone and it was a delight to take in the views from the town walls on a pleasant evening.

We had had an excellent lunch on the terrace at the hotel, and evening meals were good too, despite the large numbers. They were long, drawn-out affairs, but very entertaining. Food was served in a typically Italian, seemingly chaotic but nevertheless effective way. The main course was usually paraded down the centre aisle of the diningroom, sometimes with sparklers attached - to huge cheers.

Organisers' announcements were also fun because whenever Piergeorgio addressed us his CoMoG chums would urge him to get his kit off by chanting: “Nudo, nudo, nudo!” Unfortunately, he never obliged them. It was just as well there was so much fun, because it has to be said the organisers fell down, in comparison to other Summer Camps, in the field of entertainment. To be fair, sadly their entertainments chief Franco was the victim of a bad accident early in the week and the CoMoG boys had to try to make do without him.

What with meals taking so long, it was usually too late for most people to be starting to even think about the kind of shenanigans we've had on other occasions. And the one time our hosts got everyone down to the field below for a special game involving a Piaggio scooter, it was all a bit of a delightful shambles, as the scooter gave up the ghost very early on and refused to be restarted.

I will say that the part of the game that involved “banging the policeman” by popping ballons tied fore and aft to the waist of someone standing on a podium, simply by the force of the contestant's embrace, won huge cheeers. What the local carabinieri in the police station next door thought of it, heaven knows.

The days passed all too quickly, with a welter of runs to various out-of-the-way places in the region, along switchback roads of varying quality. When you got onto one with a good surface - and there were a few - it was absolutely brilliant. Our hosts took us to remote hilltop villages, usually including a good place for lunch. These were charming places, off the beaten track, with not another tourist in sight.

There were also visits to the nudist beach on the coast, followed by a trip around the bay to a village on a promontory with a fabulous view. Many of us made our own trips to places on the tourist map, such as Siena , Florence and Pisa . They were not as crowded as you might have expected in August, and we all enjoyed the sight­seeing, shopping and eating involved. Sometimes these visits were a bit energetic, considering the heat. In Siena , we climbed to the top of the tower of the town hall, to take in the magnificent views of the cathedral, the piazza, the rest of the city and the countryside beyond.

In Florence , after the mandatory visit to see Michelangelo's David (stunning in reality), we walked through the narrow streets, crossed the Ponte Vecchio and climbed the hill, looking for the Boboli Gardens. But we took a wrong turn and landed up at an old castle overlooking the city. Rather than walk miles around we paid our entrance fee and went in, to enjoy the classic views of the city from the ramparts.

And at the end of every day of touring around, it was just great to get back to the swimming pool at Pomarance for a dip before dinner. All in all it was a great week, one that will shine in memory. The one misfortune was Franco's accident, which saw him hospitalised with a serious shoulder injury. Everyone has been concerned for him, but he has since been said to be on the mend. We wish him all the best.

We also need to say another big thank-you to our CoMoG hosts for all their hard work.

Here's to Summer Camp 2005 in the Dordogne !

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