Why I Walked to Machu Picchu for Plymouth Charity HD Livin
In October 2026, I joined a group of 12 people travelling to Peru to take on the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu in support of Plymouth charity HD Livin.
Over five days we walked through the Peruvian Andes, crossing the 4,630-metre Salkantay Pass before eventually reaching Machu Picchu. We then finished the adventure with one final high-altitude challenge at Rainbow Mountain.
But this trip was about much more than reaching Machu Picchu.
It was about supporting my friend Tony Lomas, raising awareness of Huntington’s disease and helping HD Livin continue its work.
At the time of writing, our challenge has raised £3,000 for HD Livin.
How I Know Tony Lomas
I know Tony through Network Plymouth, the business networking group I manage.
Tony attends the group through HD Livin, which is also Network Plymouth’s designated charity.
Over time I’ve got to know Tony personally and learnt more about what he is trying to achieve through the charity.
What has always struck me is his determination.
Rather than allowing his circumstances to define what he can do, Tony has used some fairly extraordinary challenges to get people talking about HD Livin and Huntington’s disease.
In 2024, that took him to Everest Base Camp.
His next target was Peru and Machu Picchu.
When the opportunity came along to join him, it was difficult to say no.
What Is HD Livin?
HD Livin is a Plymouth charity created to support people and families affected by Huntington’s disease.
Tony’s long-term ambition is to help create specialist respite support for people affected by the condition and their families.
For me, one of the important things about supporting HD Livin is that it is a genuinely local cause.
This isn’t a charity I discovered because I was looking for a fundraising challenge.
I know Tony.
I see him regularly through Network Plymouth.
I’ve heard him talk about what he wants HD Livin to achieve.
That personal connection made taking part in the Peru challenge mean considerably more.
If you’d like to learn more about the charity and its work, visit the HD Livin website.
From Everest Base Camp to Machu Picchu
Tony had already completed an impressive challenge by reaching Everest Base Camp in 2024.
During that adventure he met people who would eventually become part of our Peru group, including two walkers from the United States who travelled over to join us again.
Machu Picchu became the next challenge.
But rather than simply travelling to the famous Inca site, the plan was to reach it by walking the Salkantay Trek.
That meant several days trekking through the Andes, including Humantay Lake, Salkantay Pass, cloud forest, Llactapata and the long final approach towards Aguas Calientes.
Our organised Salkantay route covered around 73 kilometres over five days, before we added Rainbow Mountain as a sixth day.
I’ve written a separate detailed guide covering the route, accommodation, altitude, equipment, costs and what each day was actually like.
Read my complete Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu guide.
Why I Decided to Join the Challenge
There were really two reasons I wanted to take part.
The first was simple — I wanted to support Tony and HD Livin.
Taking on something difficult together seemed a much better way of supporting the charity than simply standing on the sidelines.
The second reason was slightly more personal.
I have a bucket-list ambition to visit all seven continents.
I’d never visited South America, so travelling to Peru meant I could finally tick another continent off the list while doing something worthwhile at the same time.
It felt like one of those opportunities where several things came together.
A new continent.
A proper adventure.
A photography opportunity.
And, most importantly, the chance to help a friend raise money and awareness for a Plymouth charity.
A Group Brought Together by Tony
There were 12 walkers in our group.
Some of us already knew each other through Network Plymouth and the Plymouth business community.
Others knew Tony through work, friends or family.
A couple of the group had met him during his Everest Base Camp challenge and travelled from the United States to join him again in Peru.
I knew some of the group well before we left Plymouth, while others I properly met for the first time when we arrived in Cusco.
That changed very quickly once we started walking.
Long days, early mornings, aching legs and shared experiences have a habit of bringing people together.
The banter within the group became one of my favourite parts of the entire trip.
When you’re tired and somebody can still make the group laugh, the next hill somehow becomes a little easier.
Preparing for Something I Had Never Done Before
I was genuinely nervous about the trek.
I’d spent around three months preparing by walking more regularly around Plymouth and deliberately finding hills whenever I could.
But there was one thing I couldn’t really prepare for — altitude.
The highest point of our Salkantay route was 4,630 metres above sea level.
There isn’t anywhere around Devon where you can practise that.
When we arrived in Cusco, I experienced a headache, nausea and tiredness during my first day.
Thankfully, we’d deliberately allowed three days in the city before starting the trek rather than arriving and immediately heading into the mountains.
By the Friday morning, it was time to find out whether all those training walks around Plymouth had actually worked.
The Salkantay Trek Begins
We left our hotel at around 5am on Friday 9 October.
After dropping our main luggage at a storage facility and stopping for breakfast, we reached the start of the trail and were ready to walk by around 8.37am.
The first day took us towards Soraypampa and our Sky Camp accommodation before an afternoon climb to Humantay Lake.
That climb was my first real indication of what the next few days were going to involve.
Loose shale moved underneath your boots while the trail continued upwards.
It was hard work.
But it was also spectacular.
Crossing Salkantay Pass
The following morning started with a 4.30am wake-up.
It was freezing.
Breakfast was at 5am and by 6am we were walking towards the highest point of the trek.
We reached Salkantay Pass at around 9.30am.
At 4,630 metres, it was the highest point of our five-day route.
Standing there with the group was one of those moments where you could stop for a few minutes and appreciate what we’d already achieved.
There were still several days of walking ahead of us, but we’d reached one of the major milestones.
And naturally, I decided that the sensible thing to do at 4,630 metres was jump in the air for a photograph.
From there we began the long descent.
The barren mountain landscape gradually disappeared and was replaced by greener vegetation as we headed towards the cloud forest.
It was probably my favourite change of scenery during the entire trek.
The Hardest Day
By Monday 12 October, we’d already been walking for several days.
Unfortunately, Day 4 wasn’t interested in giving our legs a rest.
Our itinerary showed approximately 25 kilometres of walking, including a long climb towards Llactapata, a substantial descent and the final approach towards Aguas Calientes.
Part of the climb had been nicknamed the Gringo Killer — that probably tells you everything you need to know.
This was also the one day where I managed to record the walk properly on Strava.
My two recordings totalled 25.22 kilometres, including 1,094 metres of elevation gain during the morning activity.
By the time we reached the railway section towards Aguas Calientes, everyone knew they’d had a proper day of walking.
But Machu Picchu was now very close.
Finally Reaching Machu Picchu
On Tuesday 13 October, we took the bus from Aguas Calientes for our early morning visit to Machu Picchu.
We had Circuit 2 tickets and entered at around 6am.
After several days of mountains, rivers, cloud forest, early starts and tired legs, suddenly seeing Machu Picchu in front of us was quite difficult to describe.
Cloud was moving across the site and the early morning light started breaking through.
As a photographer, it was exactly the sort of changing light I’d hoped for.
There are millions of photographs of Machu Picchu.
But taking your own photograph after spending several days walking there makes that photograph mean something completely different.
For our group, it wasn’t simply another tourist destination.
We’d reached it together.
One Final Challenge at Rainbow Mountain
You might think reaching Machu Picchu would have been a sensible place to stop.
Apparently we didn’t.
On Wednesday 14 October, we left the hotel at around 4.20am for one final adventure at Rainbow Mountain.
It was another high-altitude walk and I found it extremely challenging.
After five days on the Salkantay route, there wasn’t much left in the legs.
But eventually we made it.
It was a fitting way to finish an extraordinary week.
More Than Just Reaching Machu Picchu
Looking back, some of my favourite memories aren’t necessarily the obvious landmarks.
They’re the smaller moments.
The jokes when everyone was tired.
Sitting down together for food after a long day.
Watching the mountains light up before sunrise.
Encouraging somebody through a difficult section.
Meeting other walkers along the trail.
And eventually standing together at Machu Picchu knowing why we’d taken on the challenge in the first place.
The trek was difficult, but doing it as a group made a huge difference.
Raising £3,000 for HD Livin
At the time of writing, our Peru challenge has raised £3,000 for HD Livin.
For me, that’s the most important number connected with the trip.
Not 4,630 metres.
Not 25 kilometres on our longest day.
Not the number of photographs I came home with.
£3,000 raised for a Plymouth charity.
Every donation came from somebody who wanted to support Tony, the group or the work HD Livin is trying to do.
And every conversation about the challenge helped more people hear about the charity.
That’s what made the difficult sections worthwhile.
Photographing the Journey
I normally work with a Nikon Z8, but carrying a large professional camera system through the Andes didn’t seem particularly sensible.
Instead, I took my smaller Lumix G100.
It meant I could still document the journey properly without adding too much weight to the equipment I was already carrying.
Some of my favourite photographs from Peru aren’t necessarily the postcard views.
They’re the photographs that remind me what it actually felt like to be there.
The Sky Domes glowing in the early morning light.
Mist sitting in the valleys.
People walking ahead of me on the trail.
The group reaching another milestone.
And those first glimpses of Machu Picchu through the cloud.
That’s one of the reasons I wanted to write about the trip as well as photograph it.
The photographs show what we saw.
The story explains why we were there.
Supporting HD Livin
Our Peru adventure might be finished, but the reason behind it hasn’t changed.
HD Livin continues to raise awareness and funds to support its ambitions for people and families affected by Huntington’s disease.
If you’d like to support the fundraising or learn more about the charity, you can use the links below:
- Support our Machu Picchu fundraising for HD Livin
- Find out more about HD Livin
- Read my complete Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu guide
Thank you to everyone who donated, shared the fundraising page, followed our progress or simply asked how we were getting on.
It all helped.
What’s Next?
I’ve written a separate first-hand guide to the complete Salkantay Trek, including the route we followed, what I found difficult, accommodation, altitude, equipment, costs and the things I’d do differently.
Read it here: Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu: My Honest First-Hand Guide.
I’ll also be writing more about the practical side of the adventure, including what I packed, the camera equipment I chose and what it was really like walking some of the individual stages.
About the Author
I’m Mike Lister, a professional photographer based in Plymouth, Devon, photographing weddings, events and commercial projects across Devon, Cornwall and the South West.
I also manage Network Plymouth, which is how I originally got to know Tony and became involved with HD Livin.
In October 2026, I swapped my usual Nikon Z8 for a much smaller travel camera and joined a group of 12 walkers travelling through the Peruvian Andes to raise money and awareness for HD Livin.
Every photograph in this article was captured during my own journey.
About Mike Lister
A Devon-based photographer specialising in weddings, commercial work, and drone photography. With years of experience capturing life's most important moments, Mike brings warmth, professionalism, and artistic vision to every project.
Learn more about Mike
