At 3.45 am on the 8th December I arose to start the Inca trail. We were doing it with a company called Llama Path, who were absolutely fantastic! We had to be in town at 4.30. We had already met the people we were doing the trek with 10 others and 2 guides (also 17 porters and a cook). Although 12 people on a trek is probably more than I would have liked it actually worked out really well, everyone in the group was really nice and easy to get on with. We were also relatively close in age and moved at about the same pace. It was a really great group and added significantly to the experience (as I imagine a bad group could detract from the experience). So we got a bus to the starting point of the official Inca trail; Km82 (that's actually what it is called). We had actually come down quite far from Cusco and were now somewhere just over 2000m. We set off up the first hill, I was immediately out of breath but was reassured to see most people appeared to be in the same boat. We continued on with the walk, the scenery on the first day was fairly spectacular and we came to our first Inca site and had our first Inca lesson. I really enjoyed this aspect of the trek - each time we stopped at an Inca site we had a lesson which gave us some insight into the history and daily lives of the Incas. We arrived into camp at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon (having stopped off to pick myself up some beers). We had an amazing dinner (all the meals we had were absolutely amazing, the food was incredibly tasty, there was always loads and the presentation was stunning) and sat and chatted for the rest of the evening before an early night at 8pm.

Day 2 on the Inca trail is the most difficult as it involves hiking from camp at 3300m to dead womans pass at 4200m before descending to 3500m and then back up to 4000m then descending back to camp. The first part of the morning was the hike up to dead woman's pass, this was relatively difficult however I think the combination of spending time in Cusco acclimatising, coca leaves and my previous hiking helped me along the way I made it to the top without too much difficulty (as did everyone else in the group).From here we were treated to some absolutely stunning views (and I treated myself to a beer - it was only 9am but I had been up since before 6 and had worked pretty hard by this time). The descent to lunch would have been fine had it not been for the rain but we all made it in one piece. After lunch we started to ascend again - luckily the rain had stopped, we stopped at another Inca site and had another inca lesson before ascending again to second pass where we were treaded to even more spectacular views. I have seen so many amazing things in the last nine weeks but this may be the single most specular viewpoint I've stood at. I was surrounded on all side by dramatic peaks, some of which were covered with glaciers. There were lakes, forests, inca ruins and clouds rising all around adding a kind of mystical feelto the whole thing! It was simply breathtaking!! It certainly made all the hiking feel worthwhile! After this there was another descent to another stunning Inca ruin, where were treated to another inca lesson and more beautiful views.We then made our way to the campsite for the night, quite pleased with what we had achieved that day!Again since I've left home I have camped in some amazing places but this campsite is up there with the best of them, we had some snacks and tea (and beer) sitting outside admiring the views and then had another scrumptious dinner!

Day 3 was our "easy day" it was only a half day hiking and was predominantly downhill. We again visited some more Inca ruins and had some more Inca lessons! We reached our camp by lunchtime, where yet again we had a feast. We had gotten pretty wet on the way there but were lucky and after reaching camp the rain dried up and the sun came out. After lunch we took a short walk to what was probably my favourite Inca ruin in the trek, it was a massive town, surrounded by farming terraces with again some amazingly dramatic scenery. We spent quite a while here just looking and taking many, many photos before returning for a shower (oh the luxury) and a slap up meal and then we had a few beers and a late night for us (after 9). On the final day we had to rise really early this is so the porters can get the first train back at 5am (the only one they're allowed to get) and also so you can get in the queue to get through the checkpoint as early as possible!

We got up at 3.30, at 4 am were treated to a breakfast of toast and cake (actually baked on the side of the mountain). Then we headed for the checkpoint. As we got through the checkpoint one of the guys in our group made a break for it - I followed - scooting easily past all the slow walkers (although some tried to prevent you getting past - either speed up or get out of my way!!!). So I almost killed myself (I did actually fall over at one point and it was quite a sheer drop on the right - all I could think was my camera!) runningto the sun gate to get to a perfect view of Machu Pichu without all the annoying tourists (such as myself) - and I managed to get there as the first group were arriving to be treated to a view of a valley filled completely with clouds! Although it rained quite a bit on the trek we were actually quite fortunate with the timing of inconvenient weather - and our time at the sun gate was the same - after about 20mins there the clouds slowly lifted and eventually revealed Machu Pichu in all it's glory - it was amazing. Soon after the clouds began to descend again and we made our way down the hill the final hour walking! Arriving into Machu Pichu is a fairly special moment in one's life - fairly unforgettable, it brings back memories of long forgotten history lessons, it reminds me how lucky and privileged I am to be able to visit all these amazing places. We had another Inca lesson, it began to rain again and we spent a final hour wandering around the ruins! Many of the rocks there are significant and (are supposed to) resemble animals. This requires a little imagination - unfortunately sometimes you can use too much imagination. So at one point we convinced ourselves we had found "the condor" and took plenty of pics before walking off and seeing a sign for the real condor in the other direction! To be honest I think our condor was better that the real thing! We then got the bus to Aguas Callientes, which was quite the journey, down a very windy, narrow, busy road. We had a few "near misses" and one of them was really a bit too near for my liking! Then we had a final family lunch before getting the train and bus back to Cusco.

Just a note for anyone planning on doing the inca trail - there are lots of hikes to Machu Pichu which are much cheaper than the inca trail. From what I understand you don't get as many ruins on the way, I'd imagine the scenery is still stunning as it is still a trelk through the Andes. One of the other perks of the Inca trail is that you approach Machu Pichu via the sun gate which provides stunning views (as long as it's not cloudy). People advise that you book well in advance and in summer this is apparently true - however we could probably have picked up and Inca trail trek on arrival in Cusco - however it's not a risk I'd like to take! The weather was at times frustrating but did not detract from the experience for me - that being said - if I had the choice to do it in the drier winter here I would opt for that. One final note - Llama path are a bit more expensive than some of the competition - however it clear to see that their porters have much better kit and appear more organised and apparently are the only Inca trail porters with health insurance!