Hello - thank you for looking in!    Before you log straight off can I make it clear that EVERY penny donated on this site will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.  I am NOT asking you to fund an adventure holiday for me!  Having reached my intial target of £10,000 I have just raised it to £15,000.  Aim high and you will fly - aim low and you'll never know! 

I am recently back from an immensely rewarding and uplifting challenge - a 6 day trek to Machu Picchu which has been truly amazing and, thanks to the support I have received, already very worthwhile for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

 

This Trek has been about the hardest thing I’ve ever done – and I’ve not exactly been sitting on my haunches all my life!   It was far tougher than I thought it would be and there were two occasions when I just didn’t think I could keep going – but I did!     

 

The Inca Trail this was NOT!  We trekked for 5 days and camped for 5 nights before we even reached the ruddy thing - and then a day along that (tough enough in blazing heat) before we finally clambered up to the Sun Gate and beheld the glory of Machu Picchu below.  During the main trek we didn't see a single non-native which was fabulous and gives an indication of how far we were from the tourist trail. 

 

On 2 nights there was frost inside the tent and I was sleeping in thick trousers, 2 pairs of socks, thermal vest, thick fleece and woolly hat - quite a sight peeping out from the sleeping bag!  There were times when the horses which were with us most of the way looked so tempting - even if just to dump my heavy rucksack, never mind my own great weight on their sturdy backs - but I managed not to.   I was very lucky not to be badly affected by altitude sickness - I only suffered the breathlessness which is unavoidable and which makes it all so tricky.  Virtually everyone else fell unwell at various stages with headaches, nausea etc and some, of course, fell foul of Inca Revenge!  

 

My lucky escape was perhaps compensation for being the oldest (by some years!) on the trek - some of the younger ones didn't make the whole thing without assistance.   It really has been a momentous experience - I must avoid the cliche 'experience of a lifetime' but it is difficult to describe it any other way.  

 

Thanks to the amazing generosity of friends I have now exceeded my target of £10,000 so, as I said at the beginning, I have raised it to £15,000 - 'Aim high and you will fly - aim low and you'll never know!  Don't worry - friends will NOT be asked again!

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!