HOLIDAY Autos chairman and chief executive Clive Jacobs and his wife Suzanne ditched their usual creature comforts to trek across Peru for charity.
The couple completed the famous Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu and swelled the coffers of their favourite charity, The Teenage Cancer Trust, by £10,000.
Their were no limousines or flashy hotel suites for the glamourous couple as they and a party of 38 completed the 27-mile walk in three days.
“It was soaking wet, the tents were drenched and our sleeping bags were soaking,” said Clive.
“There was always a race to finish each day because we all had to go to the toilet in the same hole in the ground.”
When it came to dinner, the man who is used to the finer things in life had to survive without an extensive menu and fine wines. “There were 100 porters and they provided the best they could, but the food was pretty spartan,” explained Clive. “Mind you, we were served a Peruvian drink, pisco sour, which is like a margaherita, and I carried some whisky to enjoy a much-needed drink each evening.”
Clive and Suzanne are veteran trekkers for charity but reckoned this was the toughest they’ve done because it was all at such high altitude.
“It was harder than last year when we did 94 miles in five days in Morocco.”
And there was a rare occurrence at the site of the lost city of the Incas – Clive was speechless. “It was an incredible sight, it puts Stonehenge in its place,” he said.
Clive also got the inevitable upset stomach, but there was an upside. He lost a stone and, as Travel Weekly went to press, was back to his fighting weight of 11 stone.
Backchat reckons both Clive and Suzanne deserve a hearty round of applause.