Nick Parrott is a TV reporter with BBC Look East and he lives and works in Norwich. In October he fulfilled a lifetime ambition - to trek the Inca Trail in Peru. Here he tells his story. My heart was thumping against my chest with excitement as I hurried up the last few steps towards the Sun Gate. The adrenaline surged through my veins as the sunshine of a Peruvian spring morning filtered through the trees and ancient stonework, dappling the path in front of me. The end was in sight. It had taken four days of hard trekking through some of the most stunning scenery in the world to get here. Finally here was my reward and, boy, it was worth the pain and hard work. I'd gone ahead of the others in the group. This was something I wanted to experience on my own. Once through the gate, the spectacle of the Lost City of the Incas at Machu Picchu opened up before me. The view was breathtaking. I have never seen anything so beautiful. For once, I was genuinely lost for words. When the others caught up, many were brought to tears by the vista. They were doing it in the memory of loved ones who had died from cancer. It was hard not to get caught up in the emotion. Where the going gets tough 
Salinas salt pans |
We had set off four days and 50km earlier. Although a BBC colleague had walked the Inca Trail four months before me, he hadn't told me how hard it would be. If he had I just might have thought twice about doing it! Imagine running a marathon. That's tough. I should know, I have run London twice in fancy dress and completed two half marathons. Now, how about doing it in walking gear over four days with a 25-litre rucksack, weighing several kilogrammes on your back? Then throw in several mountain passes at altitudes where it feels like someone is slowly squeezing the air out of your chest.
To prolong the agony you've got blisters on your feet, the indignity of very basic toilet facilities when you have diarrhoea, which medication seems unable to stop, and it is raining a lot of the time. There were 19 people in our group. Two dropped out through altitude sickness during the trail. On the final day another had to be carried down to Machu Picchu by a porter. Just about everyone suffered from something in some way. Getting acclimatised After just two days of acclimatisation and sightseeing at altitude in Cusco we headed for the Urubamba Valley with a gentle walk at the Salinas salt pans to break us in gently. 
Condor in flight at Olantaytambo |
Although there is amazing scenery wherever you look in Peru, the first magical moment came at Olantaytambo, not far from the start of our trek. From the Sun Temple at the top of the ruins in the town we saw something very few tourists get to see. Not one condor, but two. It's the largest flying bird in the world and one of the rarest. Even our guides, with many years of experience between them, had never seen condors here before. Condors are a type of vulture and feed on carrion. But because the trail is well kept, and anything that dies along it is quickly cleared away by rangers, condors have no reason to come anywhere near it. We were told we were extremely lucky to see these birds. Stepping onto the Inca Trail » | 
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