The Inca Trail - four days of hiking, camping and not washing, in amazing surroundings. "The most physically challenging thing I've undertaken since...the London Marathon" (James), "...ever" (Kate).

To give it a bit of background, the Inca Trail is 'the most famous hike in South America'. It weaves its way from the floor of the Urubamba Valley up and down ridiculously steep passes, through high cloud forest, past llamas, lakes, snow-capped mountains and increasingly impressive ruins of ancient Inca settlements. The climax is the descent to the magnificent 'Lost City of the Incas' - Machu Picchu - the ruins of a hilltop city of some 1500 people, which at 2400m is at almost twice the height of Ben Nevis. Impressive? Oh yes.

Having bided 10 days on or near a toilet, it was with some glee that we were finally well enough to catch the train out of Cuzco, laden with camping equipment, SuperNoodles, warm clothing and mosi repellent. However, finding ourselves breathless after a mere ¼hr on Day 1 of 4 days, our glee faded somewhat. Sorry to harp on about the 'altitude', but it goes some way to justify why it takes 4 days to walk only 33km.

Now, the Incas were undisputably an incredibly advanced civilisation, but they were also sadistic stairmakers from Hell. With the path weaving quad- and calf-achingly up from 2,500m to 4,200m, then back down to 3,600m, to go back up to 4,100m, to go down, to go up....it was at times the stuff that bad dreams are made of. Being regularly overtaken by the local porters, who only wear flimsy sandals, somehow carry 3 or 4 big packpacks, and yet still leap gaily from giant stone step to giant stone step didn't help.

Camping at altitude was a bit of an experience too - it got shockingly cold at night, the water took ages to boil, but there was something magical about waking up to see snow-capped peaks from our tent. The weather wasn't always on our side (Peru has definitely destroyed the myth of South America always being scorching hot) - got rained on a fair bit, especially for our final descent by torchlight at 5am to get to Machu Picchu for a disappointingly cloudy (but 'mystic') sunrise. There's something undefinable about the smell of 4 day old sweaty clothes once they've been rained on....

All in all, it may have been tiring, but it was an amazing and brilliant experience - can't recommend it enough! So now we're back in Cuzco, the blisters are almost healed, the legs are almost back to their full range of movement, and our calf definition is now legendary. Hoping to see a few more ruins (borderline ruin overdose), before heading back into Bolivia to actually see some of the country this time. And to escape the 'Wave' for good!