Classic treks
Great guide: Freddie’s words of wisdom
Sun spot: chilling out alo ng the way
call the ‘gringo killers’. I’m definitely one of their number: my knees are shot. I stop thinking less of the ‘tourists’ who had bought trekking poles at the start of the trail as I hobble round Machu Picchu propping myself up against the ruins. The scenery is fabulous. As you do the trail you pass from drier climates into the jungle, and the mountains are shrouded by cloud as in all the best photos. It’s busy, of course. Everyone stays in roughly the same campsites and 500 people walking the same stretch of the same trail is a lot. But apart from
the last day, which is a bit of a bottleneck, the groups spread out after about the first half an hour of walking as everyone finds their own pace. The people we see the most are cheskies storming past and putting us to shame, especially as they’re wearing sandals and ponchos and carrying packs three times the size of ours. I expected the highlight to be the walking, but I was wrong. It’s the number of Inca ruins along the way, almost unheard of because of their famous cousin Machu Picchu, and how incredible they are. I’ve
‘Toughest is going down the hundreds of stone steps on day three, which the cheskies call the ‘gringo killers’. I’m definitely one of their number’
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