Matt's back from Amsterdam, so our official training programme starts now!  It consists of long walks at the weekend, mixed with other stamina building exercises during the week.  I think finding time for the stamina building stuff is going to be our biggest challenge!

We received our next information pack from the British Heart Foundation this week, and it contained a contact list of all the people we'll be trekking with.  We've been speaking to some of them via email/facebook and they seem really fun, and it's also another girl's birthday as well as mine during the week we're away!  I think we're going to have a whale of a time. 

There's also an option for us to stay in Peru a couple of days longer after the trek, and travel on the Andean Explorer train for a day (owned by the Orient Express) and explore Lake Titicaca.  It sounds really good but we're thinking that once we've finished the trek we'll be good and ready to come back home!

There was also a list of suggested items to pack - and it was so long!  Lots of clothing, equipment and medical items!  We're getting some bits and pieces for Christmas, and there's a place where we can hire equipment from rather than buy it all in.

For those of you interested in what we'll be getting up to out there, we've updated the day to day itinerary (click on 'Inca Trail Trek' above).

This morning we realised it's exactly six months today that we will be heading off to Peru to complete the trek!  The last six months, since we started discussing it, has absolutely flown by and now the challenge that lies ahead is really starting to sink in.

Today we've been putting together our proper training programme, to start on 29th November (as some of you know Matt will be in Amsterdam for two weeks before then, training for his new job).

As we're both working full time we're unable to walk during the week until the evenings get lighter again, so we'll be combining our weekend walks with other forms of exercise such as swimming and going to the gym in the evening.  We have a couple of walking weekends away planned in April (the Lake District, Bath, Salisbury and possibly Wales), where we'll be walking around 30-40 miles each weekend.  It's going to be tough!  But at least we'll have bodies like professional athletes by the end of it.....

We're putting fundraising activities on hold until the new year, so if anybody has any ideas of how we can raise that last £900, please let us know!

Lastly, thankyou to those of you that have commented on our blog; it's really great to know that people are checking up on how we're getting on!