Time to take advantage of being slightly older than the average traveller. We blew the equivalent of around 20 nights accommodation budget on a night in the 5* Inkaterra hotel in Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Bliss.

So after a farewell lunch with the group, some of them headed back to Cusco, some of them settled into the tour operator's shabby hostel, we slipped into luxury. Hell, our aching feet deserved it!

Afternoon cakes, a dip in the thermal pools, cocktails, wine and a delicious evening meal. Regretfully now, we shied away from the confit of guinea pig that had been recommended. Still on the to do list.

We met up with the remainder of our hike group for drinks in the evening, mostly to taunt them with tales of our luxurious hotel and dinner!

The following morning we visited the rescue centre for the Andean Spectacled Bear housed on the hotel grounds. These are the inspiration for Paddington Bear - the spectacle wearing bear from deepest darkest Peru of course. The centre claims to be a rehabilitation centre. This is stretching the truth somewhat given their only release into the wild in 10 years is an escapee, but they seem to do a very reasonable job of caring for previously abused bears.

After painfully killing a further 4 hours in a rainy Aguas Calientes town (where there is sod all to do), we caught the train (and then bus) back to Cusco for reunion drinks with the hike group.