Walking the Inca Trail
In early May Jo Parker, former council member and UKSTT Trenchless Woman of the Year will be attempting to trek the Inca trail. This is a 26 mile path crossing the High Andes starting at 2,200m high at Cisco and at time reaching over 4000m high. The trek will take 4 days and she will be camping. Over that time there will be no electricity and no communications.
Jo is not and never has been an avid walker – or any sort of walker at all. With flat feet, scoliosis (a spinal curve) and dodgy hips, walking, especially uphill, is painful. A series of respiratory diseases including Bronchitis, Covid and Whooping Cough in 2024 leaves her wondering how she’ll cope with the altitude. However, the views will be wonderful and a lifelong desire to visit the end point of Machu Pichu, she hopes, will keep her going. Her training mostly consists of walking into the centre of town to do the shopping and walking back with a full rucksack!
When she asked the organisers what’s the age of the oldest person to do the trek, they thought they were reassuring her when they said that ‘quite a few had done it in their 60s’. She will be 72!
She is doing it in memory of a good friend, Matt Hake, who succumbed to cancer just before Christmas. He spent his last days in Keech Hospice and she’s collecting money for them.
If anyone does want to support her efforts, they can donate via her Just Giving page
https://www.justgiving.com/page/jo-parker-5