I am very glad, very very glad to be able to tell you that I made it back from the Inca Trail in one piece. Beth and the 11 other people in our group all made it back injury free too which seems nothing short of miraculous to me!

The Inca Trail in the UK I swear would be cordoned off with yellow and black tape as a fairly major health hazard. Imagine the steepest stairs you can think of, none of which are the same size/shape, pour some water down them, add a bit of moss, bring in thick mist and then set off at speed along them. Put a sheer cliff face at one side for good measure.

It was hard, it was a lot of uphill at altitude and a lot of slippery downhill. I really feel very lucky not to have broken an ankle or fallen over the edge (someone did but luckily landed on the path as it curved round below). We lucked out a lot actually, my walking shoes are a rock climbing brand and were brilliant for the trail, not a blister in sight; no insect bites, no sunburn and we had the best weather in 2 months of inca trail history. The group 1 day ahead of us got soaked and had wet clothes for two days. We arrived at Machu Picchu bone dry and under a glorious sun.

The Peruvian Andes are gorgeous. On our trip the scenery was like scotland crossed with rainforest and minus the rain. Beautiful. But man, I shouldve taken the train; straight up, straight down!

People wise our group were fantastic and we have made a bunch of new friends. We were a little family going along the trail and everyone was really lovely. We also seemed to have signed up for the VIP version as we had porters who carried our bags, prepared 3 course meals and afternoon tea and put up and brought down our tents for us. In the mornings we were woken up with a cup of tea, and a bowl of warm water and some soap to wash in our tents with!! Ah the luxury! Just to end on a bad note our guide was a bit of a head case. Started the trip saying "dont bring any bad energy towards me" so we were all on our best behaviour. Half way through he flipped out and said "you clearly arent interested, any of you, in what im saying so the campsite is 3 hours that way - see you there". Mardy b*****. Enlightened being - yeah right!

Currently killing 6 and a half hours in Lima airport. My next post will be from Brazil. Hope everyone has had a good week xx