Turkish delights

When I booked this trip for me and my teenage son, I wondered if he was too old to go on a family holiday. I shouldn’t have worried. With six adults, five teenage boys and one girl, who soon became more than a match for all of them, our group got on really well.

This trip offer a great balance of activities and relaxation, which is just what we needed after a busy end to the school year. There are free days where you can choose from activities such as diving, mountain biking, coasteering and sea kayaking, or you can simply enjoy one of the many stunning beaches. We began our adventure sea kayaking to the sunken city of Kekova, it’s an optional activity but well worth it. With all the testosterone in our group I am afraid my son felt he’d pulled the short straw being paired up with his mum (who is seriously lacking in upper body strength!).

Thankfully we also had a couple of days at a slower pace sailing on a traditional gulet boat, and for me this was a real highlight! The weather was perfect and we had plenty of opportunities to snorkel, swim and just laze about reading. In the evening, we were able to view the Milky Way in all its magnificence from our sleeping mats on the deck of the boat.

On one of our other optional days some of us chose to head into the hinterland on mountain bikes. We were taken very good care of with time spent making sure we were all fitted with comfortable bikes and helmets. The route was mostly downhill and off-road through some lovely scenery and small villages. Our reward was supposed to be a dip in the river at the bottom but the water level was so low that this turned out to be a mud bath option instead!

I didn’t quite ride to the finish, as three miles before the end, my legs gave up. But it was never a problem and our support driver sugared the pill by stopping several times along the way to pick figs and other fruits for me to try.

Kas is a delightful harbour town, big enough to have a good choice of restaurants, bars and shops but small enough to be friendly and laid back – an ideal base for a holiday with teenagers.

All in all it was a wonderful holiday. I still cannot believe how much we managed to pack into a week without it feeling pressured.