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Julian Clarke
Land Agent, Perth Office
In the latter part of September, I had the
opportunity to go to Peru to undertake the
challenge of a lifetime whilst at the same time
raising funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care who
looked after my mother so well before her
untimely death last year.
On 20th September a group of 23 trekkers from
all over the UK met at Heathrow to begin the ten
day trip to Peru, stopping over in Miami and
then Lima we eventually arrived in Cuzco for a
couple of days of acclimatisation before hitting
the trail in earnest on the 24th.
The trail began at Chilca (Km 77) we trekked for
four days and camped for three nights at
temperatures going down to -15 degrees Celsius,
covering over 48 kilometres at heights in excess
of 4,000 metres eventually arriving at the
ancient city of Macchu Picchu on the 28th.
During the trek we were able to see two elusive
condors (a first for our guides) as well as
Lamas and hummingbirds. On the third night we
camped on a site that had vertical drops of over
2000 metres on three sides, so not one for the
faint hearted.
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Throughout the trail, we passed through numerous
Inca ruins, with perhaps the most spectacular
(after Macchu Picchu) being the ruins at
Winaywayna, which was the Inca equivalent of an
experimental farm.
Perhaps the visual highlight of the trip was
arriving at Intipunku (the Sungate) and looking
down onto the ruins at Macchu Picchu for the
first time. Other highlights included the local
beer, pisco sours (an alcoholic drink) and
eating guinea pig on the final night.
As a group we raised over £80,000 for Marie
Curie, of which thanks to the generosity of
everyone who sponsored me I raised nearly
£11,000. I can honestly say that it was a trip
of a lifetime and an experience I will never
forget.
Macchu Picchu, Peru
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