It's been 15 minutes now and we're still waiting patiently for exactly the right time to make an epic flight through the clouds at Castelluccio.

Apart from the fact it's an incredible flight for the students that have never done it before, the other reason is that we have brought with us Carmen Roberts from 'Spin off Films' to make a DVD about our holidays. But more of that later, let's start at the begining.

We've said it before and you've read it in the blurb but on that first morning when we looked out over the valley the beauty still took people's breath away. In fact even on the last day some of the crew were still commenting on how incredible it was.

Day 1
We started with a gentle 1100 ft top-to-bottom to get people in to the flow of things with a fantastic lunch afterwards. The wind had picked up later that day so we waited until the early evening to have another flight and Carmen's first tandem flight.

The next day saw the coming of the mist in the valley bottom and us so excited that we went straight to the hill to catch that first flight through the cloud. Hours later and still no flying due to the thickness of the cloud saw half the crew going back to the hotel to grab breakfast while we awaited just in case. 45 minutes later we were still there and they came back with coffee and croisants that we ate while we waited some more.

Robin was First
Robin Ducket flew down first with Carmen and myself folowing in the tandem and got some great footage of flying through the clouds.

The rest of the group followed shortly after but missed the crucial time that day. More flights later and we were all wondering on how long the great weather was going to last.

The next day was once again a misty one but this time we were a bit more in the know. We got onto the hill after breakfast and started getting ready for the carefully choreographed flight.

All the other pilots on the hill wondered what these daft british were up to but when the time came it was epic.

The other Brits
It was at this time that we met Steve Connor abd his wife from Australia. They rolled up in their car and starting talking to us like we had known them for months. That's the beaty of the paragliding fraternity friends for life in an instance. They were traveling all around Europe and had heard of this epic site to fly and after seeing it on our web site decided it was well worth going out of their way to fly it and so joined in the fun.

One by one we all took off in quick succession and followed each other down through the hole in the clouds with the tandem after. Getting lower and lower over the cloud was, for most pilots, a once in a lifetime experience not to mention peeling off one by one and flying through it. Even by the end of the week everybody was saying how it was still one of the main highlights of the trip.

While we were packing our gliders we met up with another English party that was led by my old friend Steve who I knew from one of my other holidays to the Dune du Pyla in France. He's been going to Catelluccio for the last 6 years and it's always nice to bump into other brits abroad.

The Norcia Valley
Later on that day after a few more flights was the 2500ft flight into the Norcia valley with us finishing the day with an evening in the town that is 200 years older than Rome.

The next day was a little windy in the valley so we met up with the other brits and headed of to Mont Sibillini. Only an hour and a half away and another epic sight and site. Another good flight at another site is really building the confidence of the group not to mention that they were all thermaling and doing 360 degree turns even before they have finished CP.

All getting better
A long lunch in Sarnano, maybe a little too long because by the time we got back to the top and got ready the wind had got katabatic and made it impossible to fly. No matter, a good meal and good wine at the local monestary with memories of big thermals finished the day off just right.

Another day another site in the valley and the qaulity of flying within the group is just going up and up. More tasks being signed off every day with lectures thrown in for good measure made great progress. By the end of the week we had 7 days great flying with some of the group even thermaling for nearly 45 minutes on the last day.

'Spin Off Films'
Usually specialising in snowboarding films in Chamonix, Carmen kindly agreed to make a range of films for us about our holidays around the world so that we have something to show at trade shows and the like. These will also show the perspective customer what these holidays are really like and will be made available as soon as they are edited.

Although never having flown before Carmen was pretty gutsy in being up for anything in the air even filming some mild aerobatics. And yes, you can even hear her screaming on the film if the clip and soundtrack make it to the finished article.