Strictly cruising
STARS of Strictly are taking to the high seas next week. Craig Revel Horwood, Janette Manrara, Giovanni Pernice, Aljaz Skorjanec, Oti Mabuse and Oksana and Jonathan Platero will entertain guests on the 14-night Baltic cruise on P&O Britannia. The £1,089pp deal leaves Southampton next Sunday. Stops include St Petersburg, Helsinki, Bruges and Oslo. See iglucruise.com. For some, a summer holiday is for lazing in the sun. But others want to get fitter rather than fatter – by enjoying a sport in a fantastic setting. Here are some ideas... THE DETAILS: A sporty holiday for all the family with plenty of sunshine time to lie by the pool? This is a tried-and-tested formula for activity resort operators such as Club Med, Neilsen, Robinson and Mark Warner. Their quality resorts tend to be in seaside destinations in countries such as France, Greece and Turkey, with loads of sports facilities and even the chance for a little competition. Here the emphasis is on the holiday as much as the activity, and there is loads of good eating and drinking to be done too, much of it included in the holiday price. If you have a specific sporting interest, there are speciality weeks. GO FOR IT: A tennis-focused week at Mark Warner’s Levante Beach resort on the Greek island of Rhodes, with coaching on seven courts, costs from £774 including flights and half board. THE DETAILS: If you have a serious streak and you would rather mix with unadulterated talent then there are three locations frequented by serious-minded athletes. Club La Santa on the island of Lanzarote is a multi-discipline venue with running track, three 50-metre pools and indoor sports halls. Club La Manga in Murcia, Spain, is more upmarket and tends to focus on ball games such as golf, tennis, football and cricket. And elegant Forte Village in Sardinia hosts academies for everything from table tennis to dance, often using well-known sportsmen and women as coaches. GO FOR IT: A self-catering apartment at Club La Santa, see clublasanta.co.uk, starts from £889 per week and sleeps two. Training camps for specific sports cost around £120 for a week. THE DETAILS: Holidays on two wheels have soared in popularity and you can now find cyclebased holidays which run from gentle, twowheeled meandering to hard-as-nails mountain climbing. For the former, Cycling for Softies at cycling-for-softies.co.uk is pretty much what it says on the tin. It offers a selection of lovely self-guided inn-to-inn routes, particularly in France, where your luggage is taken for you. But if you want to test yourself in the company of others, head for the Alps or the Pyrenees. GO FOR IT: The Beast of Provence, Mont Ventoux, is a particularly long climb that often features in the Tour de France. Exodus runs regular four-day Ventoux weekends, for £789 including flights, guiding and accommodation. See exodus.co.uk for details. THETH DETAILS: You do not have to pay a fortune or travel far from home to make leaps forward wit with your step-overs and nutmegs. Most local foo football clubs organise training camps during the school holidays, both as a way of spotting tal talent and to generate extra revenue and THE DETAILS: Open water swimming is a big
com community goodwill in the off-season. A hit with lovers of the outdoors and specialists
com comprehensive rundown of what is available Swimtrek and Swimquest have made a name
can be found at officialsoccerschools.co.uk. out of organising distance swimming in idyllic
GO FOR IT: A five-day summer soccer camp with parts of the Mediterranean. They run island-toWiA Wigan Athletic costs £100. island crossings for those with a sense of adventure who are not spooked by deep water. GO FOR IT: Swimtrek’s seven-day Dalmatian Coast Short Swims trip features swims between the islands of Croatia’s Sibenik archipelago. For £920 you get accommodation, guides, breakfast and lunch, but not flights. See swimtrek.com.
MMT Mountain sports
THETH DETAILS: The Alps in summer echo with ex excited yodelling as people hurl themselves off m mountain tops on paragliders, and hurtle down