Talking to a mucker recently, I was reminded of one of my favourite places in Tuscany, Le Cantine, in Greve-in-Chianti. But first impressions were not so good! On our very first tour of Tuscany, years ago, we’d arranged to visit…
About 2024. This year, 2023, was the first time since Brexit, and since the Covid-19 pandemic, that The Chain Gang ran a full season of tours. And even that isn’t really true – we still need to wake-up our Italian…
One reason I’m looking forward to cycling in Tuscany again is the opportunity to return to a most extraordinary hotel. On our 3rd night in Tuscany, Monday night, we stay at the Certosa di Pontignano, a 14th Century monastry which…
I spent all of September in Italy, running our Tuscany and Umbria tours back-to-back. This year some of my favourite Chain Gangers joined me over the course of the month, and it really reminded me that I don’t rave about…
TUSCANY Back in September, my good friend Mike Pattenden joined The Chain Gang in Italy for a month to help out with, well, with everything. By profession Mike’s a journalist, so inevitably he wrote a short piece for us about…
As ever, our new season is suddenly a whole lot closer than it was. We start our group tours on June 3rd in Normandy. But that tour is full, I’m afraid. But also in June we have tours of Alsace,…
Learning about cheese. From the very beginning! When I first dreamed up The Chain Gang I drove around France for a few weeks trying to decide which region was the most interesting. I visited La Rochelle, then drove 40 Km…
Our First Tours In 2015 Last year, 2014, business was good. So, believing our Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, that the financial outlook was getting better, we’ve scheduled a few more early-season tours for 2015. Not many – I…
Asciano to Montalcino, my favourite day in Tuscany The second in a series where I write about my favourite day on each of our tours. My favourite day on our Tuscany tour takes us through Le Crete, on Thursday, as…
Planning for our 2015 season OK folks, time to start getting ready for a cycling holiday. Two of our guided tours are already full, so I’m excited about a great upcoming season. If you’re interested in coming cycling with us,…
