Best Italian boot forward

Walking is an alien concept for the London child, who generally believes that God gave us four wheels for a reason.

A walking holiday, it then follows, is a contradiction in terms, which is why negotiations with our four children, who range from 17 to eight, went something like this: "We're going to Italy. Yay! We'll be staying in four different hotels. Yay! And we'll be walking. Yeah, well, I'm staying at home, then."

The hapless couple who had unwittingly booked the same week as us to walk the Venetian hills certainly had a way with children. "How do you feel about the snakes, then?" was the first thing they said to Tabby, our eighty-ear-old snake-phobic. Apparently the Euganean hills are alive with them.

The first walk was from the agroturismo (our farm hotel) Cortela to Este - 15 kilometres may not have been much for the average Headwater holidaymaker, but the longest journey we had attempted by foot in recent years was to the front gate. The children told me I looked like Lara Croft in my shorts, which put a spring in my step until Jonah, the eldest, injected a note of realism: "Miss Trunchbull, more like."

The children had only one aim - getting to the finishing line first. Driven by their competitive spirit they were oblivious to the beauty of the scenery, the swallows arcing overhead, the iridescent dragonflies darting between olive trees, the dappled light of forests. But at least they weren't complaining. Six hours after we had set off we sat on the steps of the Hotel Beatrice, basking in the sweaty, red-faced glow of selfcongratulation. .

The second walk started in Arque Petrarca, a pretty medieval village which was home to Petrarch. He had a lovely house with stunning views - the frescoes inspired by the 14th century poet's work were actually painted some time after his death, but the mummified cat, the curator obligingly agreed with fingers crossed behind back, could well have been Petrarch's own moggy. I had fondly imagined we would meet people on the walk who would be awestruck by our fortitude and offer us baskets of figs, as in DH Lawrence travel journals, but it soon became apparent that no one other than the occasional Headwater holidaymaker uses these paths through the Euganean hills.

Perhaps not surprising - only the English could call crawling on hands and knees up a vertiginous slope through a 500-metre tunnel of brambles and overhanging spiders a holiday.

Notes in the log book at our third hotel, perched amid almost Tyrolean scenery, were distinctly competitive, boasting about walking times and the number of snakes they had beaten off with stout sticks. Gluttons for punishment, they even walked on rest days, whereas we took the train to Padua ("a pleasant 20-mile walk and we recommend hopping back with one leg tied behind the back" is how we put it in the log book).

At the last hotel, a Liberty building in the tiny hilltop village-of Teolo, I failed to locate the charm of the husband and wife owners noted by previous Headwater guests. "Molto bene?" enquired Signor Leopolda solicitously as the children swallowed the last morsel of "goulash di Valdostano". It was, he informed them with a sadistic smile, donkey.

Venice was an easy day trip by bus and train from Teolo. And of course the city never disappoints, even when sinking under the weight of tourists. Next time, however, I shall bring catheters - peeing is an expensive business for a family of six. The final walk back to the agroturismo at Cortela was the toughest - 19km became 25km by the time we had lost our way a few times - but none of us wanted to go home at the end of it.

At the risk of sounding like the Von Trapp family, one of the best things about this holiday was the rediscovery of long-forgotten customs - such as talking to each other, singing silly songs, playing word games ... anything to keep our mind off the kilometres ahead.

Way to go

Dinah Hall and family travelled to Venice with Headwater Holidays (01606 720 199). An eight-night Venetian Hills Walk trip costs £797 per adult and £427 for children under 12 half-board, including return flights. Luggage is transported between hotels.

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