‘Come on, Mel!’ I call to my hiking buddy. ‘Not far to go now!’ It’s a glorious, summer’s morning in Cascais, Portugal, and we’re trekking through Quinta do Pisão nature park, heading for our glamping spot where lunch awaits. Mel, however, seems more interested in foraging for snacks in the flower-strewn hedgerows. ‘Oh well,’ I think. ‘She is carrying my pack and it must be hot work in that fur coat.’ Mel, you see, is a Miranda donkey or ‘Burro de Mirandesa’, one of a lucky group of this endangered breed that lives protected
