So after getting lucky with the weather on the first two days, today was the day when the weather fought back!!

It was another early start with a 5.30am wake up call by the porters with coca tea the incentive for getting out of our sleeping bags. We sorted our things out and ate our breakfast whilst the cloud enveloped the campsite. This meant it was quite cool for walking which was nice whilst the rain was still holding off. We hiked for about an hour and a half to reach the top of the second pass and this was to be the last major climb of the trail. We then headed downhill where we were to have an early lunch at 11am. By now we are all suffering a bit with sore leg muscles and joints but the fact we are now very close to Machu Picchu is spurring us on. We ate lunch and just as we were finishing the heavens opened and we were forced to don our ponchos that had been purchased in the last village before commencing the trail. These were extremely useful as were our waterproof pants which provided protection from the monsoon like conditions. The walk after lunch was quite tricky with a few stair climbs to the third pass. The rain didn't help as this turned the paths into rivers. After reaching the third pass, we started downhill down some very steep stairs. This seemed to take forever as every step had to be carefully watched due to the difficult conditions. By now the rain had stopped and we were able to take off our ponchos for the rest of the walk to the campsite. We eventually made it to the campsite by around 4.30pm so it had been quite a long day of walking. We think it was 16km in total.

When we made it to the camp, the first priority was to make sure that all of our things were dry. This was not the case. My sleeping bag was pretty wet so we got it out of the bag and draped it over the tent. Luckily everything else was pretty much dry and we just hope the weather holds off for Machu Picchu tomorrow.

We have had our final tea tonight and we have to say that we couldn't have wished for a nicer group of people. We will all hopefully have a drink or two in Cusco before we move on. After seeing a halo around the moon (not sure what that is all about), we are in bed for 9pm as we are up at 3.30am for the final trek to Machu Picchu.