Wednesday 27th June

We set off as a "family" of United Mice (name of tour company) with Sol our Guide to travel along the Sacred Valley (Urubamba Valley) to the start of the Inca Trail at Km 82, Piskacucho. Our first Inca site of the Sacred Valley Tour was Sacsayhuaman (sexy woman!) just outside Cuzco. This is where the Inti Raymi ceremony is held on 24th June (winter solstice). Unfortunately we missed it. We had a fantastic view of the city of Cusco from here. We then continued along the Urubamba Valley, which is called the Sacred Valley because the soil is so fertile, visiting the Inca ruins at Pisac, which were not for those suffering vertigo! Our final visit was to the Sun Temple at Ollantaytambo, where we stayed for the night in a hotel.

Thursday 28th June

Once our passports were checked and stamped, we set off on our 46 Km trek along the classical (royal) Inca Trail. The first five hours was hiking on "Peruvian flat" tracks (undulating!), passing the Inca ruins of Llactapata. After lunch and a short siesta we climbed 700 metres to our first campsite at Llullucha Pampa (3,700 m). It was near dusk when we arrived and very cold. The temperature dropped rapidly and we had a heavy frost overnight, but fortunately our sleeping bags kept us warm. It was another great location to camp.

Friday 29th June

We were woken at 6 am with hot coffee (what luxury!) and before setting off were introduced to the 22 porters that were carrying our equipment and some of our luggage! They are amazing running ahead to set up for lunch and our overnight camp. We climbed 500 metres to Dead Woman`s Pass (4,200 m) the highest point on the trail. Quite an achievement, which Sol let us celebrate with a tot of Peruvian Rum. We then descended to our lunch stop (the food was magnificent, e.g. 10 different hot dishes at one meal!) and climbed again to visit the ruins of Runkuraqay (3,800 m). We descended again to 3,580 m to visit ruins at Sayamarca, close to our second campsite, which drifted in and out of the cloud as we were in the "cloud forest" which has very lush vegetation similar to a rainforest. Another cold night was spent here with heavy frost in the morning. Both the first and second nights were spent in sight of snowcapped mountains.

Saturday 30th June

We set off at 6 am over the "Peruvian flat" for our shortest trek. After 2 hours we visited the ruins at Puyupatamarca (3,640 m) and shortly afterwards caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu mountain, marked by the rainbow flag of Cuzco. At about 12 we arrived at our campsite for lunch. After a siesta we visited the ruins at Winaywayna, our guide`s favourite site - well preserved and like a mini Machu Picchu. It was very peaceful here and there were very few tourists. We had a well earned rest this afternoon in preparation for the long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Sunday 1st July

We were woken at 3.30 am and had breakfast at 4 so that we could be first at the gate for the last part of the trail. At 5.30 am we were allowed to start all wearing head torches as it was still dark. We followed the track around the mountain before the final steep ascent to the Sun Gate, not as spectacular as it sounds as the sun only rises throught the Sun Gate at the summer solstice. David arrived at the Sun Gate at 6.10 a.m. - third from our group and seventh out of the 250 people on the trail. We were fortunate to have a clear view looking down from the Sun Gate for our first glimpse of the Machu Picchu ruins (it is often covered in mist and clound). We then walked down to Machu Picchu and took up our positions to watch the sun rise over the mountains, gradually lighting up the ruins. This was very atmospheric as it was accompanied by the gentle chanting and sounding of a conch shell by two indiginous Peruvians. Our guide then took us around the ruins and left us to explore the site independantly, before our return journey to Cuzco. Our day ended with the group going out for cocktails and a celebratory meal at a trendy restaurant called "Fallen Angel". What a way for Susan to celebrate her birthday!