Five walkers are taking on the Inca Trail to raise money for Georgina’s Gang. Wearing pink, Georgina’s favourite colour, are left to right, Alison Good, Michelle Le Clerc, Caroline Bradley, Sarah Meader and Jennifer Barnett. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0864085)

FIVE walkers set off on the journey of a lifetime yesterday to trek the Inca Trail.

The ladies are taking on the challenge to raise money for the Georgina’s Gang appeal. They headed off to Peru after having trained for the trek by doing four-hour cliff walks.

One of the walkers, Sarah Meader said she had always wanted to walk the Inca Trail.

‘Initially we were looking at doing Mount Kilimanjaro but the dates didn’t work so we came up with the idea to do the Inca Trail, which has always been a lifelong ambition of mine,’ she said.

‘I have 10 things that I want to do before I die and this is on the list. So it is a holiday of a lifetime for me.’

She said the group were nervous about taking on the gruelling trail, which rises up to 4,200 metres at its highest point.

‘I think we might not be fit enough at the moment,’ she said. ‘Some of us have done more training than others and I think we might find it difficult.

‘We have done the cliff walks but there has always been a glass of rose at the end of it. But alcohol and altitude don’t mix, so it will have to be grit and determination that gets us through.’

One of the group used to teach 12-year-old Georgina Pearce, who has the rare, inherited genetic disorder Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, which causes early dementia. Mrs Meader said deciding which charity to support was an easy choice. ‘It’s such a worthy cause,’ she said. ‘I don’t have a personal connection with Georgina but I held a coffee morning to raise funds for her, and her mum came along and it was lovely to meet her.

‘She is a remarkable woman, extraordinary.’

The group has a few days to acclimatise upon landing in Peru capital Lima before embarking on the four-day, three-night, trek.

‘We are extremely excited and ever so slightly nervous,’ she said.

‘I have been reading my guidebook and it’s going to be a trip of a lifetime.’