

And the second eldest, Mag – 58 and a trout farmer, therefore nicknamed “the fishwife” – is living with a blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma. The second youngest sister, public health nurse Cathy, celebrated her 50th birthday in May.


But the hot flush-inducing HRT incident aside, there was not one moment of tension during a memorable, five-day sisterly bonding pilgrimage – the first time we were all together for a significant period of time in more than 40 years. Why did ye bring make-up? And for God’s sake who packed a dress and heels? Losing some HRT patches was probably inevitable. Really, sisters, it’s the Camino not Tamangos. There is stuff strewn everywhere in the room. We are five Kilkenny-born women aged between 48-59. “Who robbed my HRT patches?” shrieked one of my four sisters as she laced up her designer walking boots, perfectly matched with her shorts, T-shirt and trendy headband, amid chaos in our guest house on the first day of our 115km Spanish Camino adventure.
