The alarm went off at 4am and we were up and ready to leave for 4.30. Even though it was freezing I wore as little as possible as I knew it'd be warm as soon as the sun came up. We set off in the pitch black and sure enough it was absolutely freezing. We got to the first check point AT the bottom of Machu Picchu at about ten to five and it opened up at five. When the gates opened I was about 6th in and we immediately started walking up the mountain. It was still pitch black and I led the way with the head torch. Not many people overtook and by about half way we stopped for a break. The lack of warm gear started to play dividends as by this time I was starting to sweat, despite the fact it was freezing. The sun was starting to peak over and shine so we set off again. As the sun light was getting brighter the torch became unnecessary and so I began to peel away from dice and just get up there as fast as possible. It ended up taking me about 35 minutes of hard graft but I was one of the first up there. The rest of the group got the bus and we had to wait for them anyways so it didn't really matter. The entrance into the temple didn't open until six and the group arrived about 10 to. We queued and got in being one of the first. It was still a bit cloudy so the temple didn't look at its best but quite deserted it was still breathe taking. Papas took us around and gave a tour of the temple and was actually quite good at it, he knew his stuff about Machu Picchu! Walking round I was probably the most snap happy I've ever been, every corner revealed another amazing view. Papas left us about half eight and we were free to wonder around until we were allowed up Wonapicchu which was at 10. At 9.30 we got in the queue and ended up being about 20th through. Whilst in the queue a tour guide told us it would take about 45 minutes at a good pace and half hour was a really good time. The bar was set, I was going to complete the half hour challenge. As soon as I was through the gates, the flip flops were off along with the top and I went for it, I felt like a native Inca and Mogali from the jungle book had a son and his name was Michael Knighton. Absolutely tearing past everyone I got knackered but didn't stop. The bare foot tactic was giving me a lot of attention and even the Peruvian locals fixing the path were telling me to slow down. They didn't know I was competing in the half hour challenge. Towards the end the steps became really step however the monkey feet gave me the edge. Once at the top I checked the time... 22 MINUTES! Smashed it! So chuffed I chilled on the top rock and soaked up the amazing view. By now the clouds were clearing Machu Picchu was looking perfectly green. We stayed up there snapping away and taking in the view for about two hours. We then headed back down which seemed to be harder than on the way up. We had another wonder round before heading back down to the town. Fed up with steps we decided to walk down the road way. About half hour down we found out it'd take 3 hours but had already committed to the road. I then spotted a jungley path off the road and convinced Dyson to follow assuming that it would take us back onto the steps. It did but the path was sketchy to say the least. By the time we'd got back to town it was around two-ish. We walked around looking to make our remaining 50 soles go the furthest. We'd also heard about some hot springs which were 15 each. That means we had 20 for food. We managed to hustle an absolute dead pizzeria as he had no other custom. We then hit the hot springs which were vile. There didn't seem to be any flow or filters and therefore it stunk of piss. We soon got out and began the waiting skint game until 9pm when our train was. I started to bomb about 6pm on a bench. 9pm finally rolled round were I got the most uncomfortable hours sleep and then onto a minibus. The road was so bumpy I hardly got any sleep on there either. I arrived back in Cusco, tired, grumpy and drained but with the images and memories of an amazing trek and a spectacular temple. WOW!