The hobby of a friend in an adjoining village is gliding. In 2010 he was part-owner of a two-seater glider which had the facility of a motor to fly it to a required height where it could catch the thermals necessary for a satisfactory flight path.

The glider was housed in a hangar at a gliding club in Valdera which is south of Pisa. This is a good place since it avoids the difficult and restricted area around the Galileo Galilei airport.

I had never been on a glider before and was slightly hesitant at first. I need not have worried. At least, if anything went wrong with the glider there was a lever operating a giant parachute: something not available in one’s standard airline flight!

The silence of traversing some of the most beautiful landscapes of central Italy was awesome.  A giant map unravelled itself below us, It was Google earth in real-time!

We flew over Montecatini (the one in Maremma), the area round Volterra and the Etruscan coast.

One of the highlights was gliding over Siena’s main square, the Campo. I could see distinctly the humans below having their caffè and children playing in the streets of this beautiful town.

Since that time the friend has graduated to other forms of gliding with or without motor, whether it is petrol or electric. As an electronics engineer he has also developed a special glider control panel.

However, I shall always remember that glider flight taken in May 2010 as a clear highlight of my time in Italy.

Here are some photos I took of that flight.

Recognize Siena and its campo where the famous Palio horse race is run?

And here is Volterra with its long, grim fortress and its square keep still in use for lifers.

The towers of San Gimignano are utterly unmistakeable..

For part of the flight I took the controls.

Landing was text-book perfect. (I didn’t do that bit!)

I impatiently look forwards to Elon Musk’s flying cars now!