Kitty, my 14-year-old daughter, surprises me when she announces out of the blue that she is really looking forward to the following day. We are in Esposende, a beautiful resort on the north Portuguese coast, but it’s not a swim or an ice-cream or even a chance to kayak down the River Cávado that she’s looking forward to – it’s the fact that the plasters won’t have to be rationed any more. ‘I’ll be able to put one on every single blister,’ she says happily. ‘Does that mean I can use all the anti-histamine then?’ asks her younger brother Lucas, 11, himself covered in insect bites.
The Portuguese coastline at Baiona
Tomorrow is our final day walking a section of the ancient Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route from Portugal – all the routes eventually converge on the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela. We’ve been hiking up to eight hours and 20 miles every day. Yet in a strange way, the kids are enjoying themselves rather more than they ever have during a week at a beach resort.