Having emptied my rucksack at Christine’s (a French lady) house and sorted out what I needed for the trek (described as "a little easier than the Inca trail by the lonely planet") I walked out of the little mountain town of Lençóis with about 13kg on my back and a nice cheerful guide called Emerson. Right now I will tell you that he looks a little rough, unshaven etc, but is really good company, a fantastic guide, a certified paramedic, and member of a mountain rescue team as well as a member of a helicopter rescue squad and a volunteer in the local forest fire fighting team. Anyway, we set out, superman and I, nice and easy, along a sandy track. About an hour later we reached a river, which we crossed, jumping from stone to stone, before starting our first long climb up the first hill. Now before you go wondering, this trek was hard, maybe not quite as hard as the Andes, but definitely hard work, although maybe not in a difficulty way… just the length of the climb more than anything. Our first climb was a long one and our rucksacks were heavy at this point. It took us quite a while to reach the top where we rested for lunch at a place called Toca da Onça (jaguar cave) with fantastic views over the surrounding valleys. After lunch we started a long descent into the first valley. This was very steep with huge boulders bigger than me, so it was a lot of clambering and jumping etc but I managed fine. In the evening we arrived in the valley, near a river, where we stopped for a swim before putting up our tent, making a fire and cooking dinner.

Next morning: Day 2. Having risen with the sun at around 6am, we first of all headed off for a freezing cold swim in the river, in a lake at the foot of a gorgeous waterfall. This was really refreshing and certainly woke us up ok. In fact it was magical, the waterfall was in a kind of glade and the pool was surrounded by eerie mists and plants. We then had breakfast and set off along the trail, up the riverbed. Now if you remember the film "Last of the Mohicans" and can picture the mohicans running up riverbeds in all their splendour and glory, that was exactly the kind of thing we were doing, in fact the whole idea, atmosphere and trail was very similar to the film, going up river beds and up high straight mountains along small hidden paths etc... Day 2 we walked up the valley to the bottom of the Cachoeira da Fumaca, had lunch and then headed back to camp for dinner, swim, tent sleep etc... I slept like a log and didn’t here a sound of the 3-hour long downpour that apparently woke everyone else in the camp up (there were 38 peoples in camp that night with all groups put together. The camps are designated spots so as to not harm the environment and it is a good laugh in the evenings).

Day 3, today, we woke up, had another swim, and then, after a huge breakfast of porridge (funny how I always eat porridge on trails and how it actually seems to taste nice when your out of doors) we set off on what is described as the mighty climb! Straight up! UP, UP, UP!! Incredible.... the climb was steep, very very very steep and quite hard, we went straight up a vertical hillside to get out of a boxed valley. The views were amazing as we rose out and it was a relief to reach the nice flat sandy paths at the top. We climbed right above the Cachoeira da Fumaça, which incidentally happens to be the highest waterfall in Brazil with something between 350 and 400m of height.... the views from there were really incredible.... fantastic. We then walked nicely along an easy path on the top of a flat area before clambering down some more rocks to the village below. From the village we waited for a few other walkers before getting into the back of a pickup and heading off on the 2-hour pickup journey back to Lençóis. In the end it was a nice, satisfying and incredible 3-day walk that I thoroughly enjoyed. I certainly sweated enough!!! This is a trip that I would recommend very strongly to anyone who likes the outdoors and/or trekking. It was fantastic.

Where to stay and find a guide:

The easiest way to get to the Lençóis is to go by bus from Salvador de Bahia. The French lady I stayed with is called Kristine Nicouleau (email krisunik@ligbr.com.br ). She can accommodate small numbers of people or can help you find both guides and hotels in Lençois. She speaks French, English, Spanish and Brazilian. My guide, who comes highly recommended, was called Emerson Assis (email emeassis@hotmail.com ). He can organise trips all around the area if you ask him nicely. He's a good laugh.