Finally....´The Inca Trail

Well the training is over..

In little under an hour, I head off for a 4 day hike across the Peru mountains to Machu Pichu along the Inca Trail.
With 3 nights camping out in minus figures!!!  With no shower nor internet access!

Yesterday I did an training walk around cusco up to 3700m, and it was a nice walk.  However 1 women who has been suffering from Altitude sickness was taken to hosiptal and won´t be doing the trek, another guy injuried his leg on day one and won´t be going.  Plus last night 3 people decided it was too tough and won´t be going along the trail later.  Many people have been affected by the altitude, lucky and touch wood, nothing has affected me yet!

Anyway got to go have some breakfast before a long 5 days ahead.

I will update as soon as I can!

 Please Support me on my trek to Machu Picchu in Peru for ShelterBox in April 2009. You can Sponsor me at http://www.RogersChallenge.co.uk

First update from Cusco

Well I have just arrived in Cusco, after 3 flights, a couple of buses and a train ride....

The altiude is already affecting a few from the group and we have only been here an hour!  So far nothing to report!

So far all is well, I am about to head out for a "gentle" walk around town to get used to the altiude.

Anyway.. just a quick update, I will do a more detailed update tomorrow after our "test" walk.

 Please Support me on my trek to Machu Picchu in Peru for ShelterBox in April 2009. You can Sponsor me at http://www.RogersChallenge.co.uk

It's the final countdown!

After a year of planning, fundraising and training, its time to head off to Peru to do the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. This evening I catch the train to London for a nice nights sleep on the hard floor at Heathrow! Then tomorrow I head off at around 7pm (meaning a 4:30/5am check in) to Madrid, followed by a lay over for a couple of hours before doing a 12 hour flight to Lima, where I get to stay a night before heading on another flight to Cusco. So today I have been putting together my bag which isn't easy as trying to get to the 15kg allowance is tricky...but I am within a kilo so I am hoping I can get away with it!...

Anyway...

Training: This weeks training has been lovely, since it has dramatically dropped off so I only did a couple of hour walks (including a nice stroll along the seafront this morning!) and a 3 and half hour to Dawlish Warren and back on Monday. The general idea was not to over train in the last couple of weeks and to have some rest before heading off.

Fundraising: Last weekend I took out the Stocks again, had some homemade cakes made up by a friend for a "going away" weekend. It didn't go as planned, first none of the Shelterbox equipment arrived (not a major problem, as it might have been needed at a larger event), but more importantly it was a dreary damp cold day and there wasn't as many people on the seafront as I would have liked. Dad and me did however allow ourselves to be blasted with wet sponges by those people that were there.
The good thing is however that I was able to send off over £625 a few days ago due to all the donations and last minute sponsorship in the past couple of weeks. The customers at East Cliff Cafe have been very generous in popping their change into the buckets and its all adding up, hopefully by the time I come home there will be even more to send off.

I will be trying to update the blog & facebook while I am away, however it might be more difficult during the actual trek itself (I don't imagine I can get too much O2 coverage there!)

Anyway....thank you all for your support!

If you still haven't sponsored me, you can do it at www.justgiving.co.uk/rogerpalmer
And if your waiting for me to complete the Inca Trail before sponsoring, no problems....you'll hear it here first.

This time next week....

It's down to the final week now until I head off to Peru.

Training: As I have now entered the last week, training has been slowed down, according to the exercise program its just a couple of 1 hour walks and 1 longer 4 hour walk. Yay!!
This last week I have done a lot of shorter 1 hour walks with a 3 hour walk on my day, I should have done 2 six hour walks back to back but due to the Easter bank holiday and unplanned family commitments I was unable to do that. I even got up at 6:30 to go swimming on Easter Sunday only to find the pool closed, I wasn't impressed!

Fundraising: Easter has been great for donations, with the fantastic weather there was lots of people down at the Cafe, I collected in over £200 in the past week. This weekend I am hoping for one last push with "hopefully" some advertising & a demo box from Shelterbox. Also Dad and Me will go into the Stocks for an hour before I dismantle them. I will be sending off a donation in the next few days for a whole Shelterbox.

With just a week now to go, I have all the little things to sort out such as checking all my kit and making sure I have anything, then going through again to cut weight.

After the events in Italy just this month, In total ShelterBox has distributed 365 boxes and 500 blankets to those affected by the 6 April earthquake. “We estimate that 2,000 people are currently sleeping in our tents,” says team leader John Diksa. Also this week 200 ShelterBoxes have been sent to Namibia to those affected by the flooding in the north of the country.

2 Weeks to Go... Today I did the Teignmouth & Dawlish Way...

It's now just over 2 weeks until I head off to Peru, so its a case of getting all those final last minute things together, I think I have everything but there is the odd thing I might need!

Shelterbox have had a busy week this week, after the events in Italy with the dreadful earthquake, so far A ‘tent city’ to house more than 300 homeless people has been put up in the village of Assergi. 20 tents have been used so far with an additional 200 tents will be arriving in the area on 9 April. ShelterBox has a four-person volunteer team in Italy. Below is a picture of a Shelterbox tent in Italy.

Anyway training hasn't been great in the past few days due to a death in the family, however today I completed a long 16 plus mile walk, along the Teignmouth and Dawlish Way, heading from Teignmouth to Luton, then onto Ideford then to Ashcombe before heading back to the coast to Dawlish and then back home to Teignmouth. It's a 14 mile trail, but I then had to walk back to Teignmouth and I got a little lost at one point and probably did at least another mile or so until I got back on track. The Teignmouth and Dawlish Ramblers have just launched this walk with a new brochure (which is available throughout town). The walk goes through some beautiful countryside and the weather was fantastic, however my legs now ache and have enjoyed the last hour sat at home resting!

Here is a picture from today's long walk.Below is a clipping from today's page 2 of the Teignmouth News which is Teignmouth's free paper that is delivered to all the homes in the area.

3 Weeks to Go!

The final countdown is now on.... with just 3 weeks to go until I head off to Peru.

Training is now approaching the end...this week saw swimming on Sunday, 1 hour walks on Monday and Tuesday plus 1 hour's fitness training on Wednesday plus a 5 hour walk around Exeter doing the Green Circle Trail in reverse. I was supposed to go to the gym tonight but my leg is still hurting from Wednesday so I decided to have a day off and try and get an extra 1 hour walk in tomorrow. According to the Training plan, there is only another 2 weeks of training at full steam as the last week it all gets scaled back to get in a little rest before the trek.

I picked up what I hope is the last of the kit needed for the trip, my bag is now stuffed with bits and pieces.

Sponsorship and donations continue to come in down at East Cliff Cafe and am hoping for one last push in the next few weeks.

The plan for next week is to take on the 14 mile Teignmouth to Dawlish long way round walk which has been put together by the local ramblers.

Here is a clipping from April 2nd's Express and Echo...