Cloud Road A Journey through the Inca Heartland

An intense and deeply personal account of five months spent high in the Andes Mountains, this travelogue combines historical and anthropological details with the thrill of extreme adventure. Hiking at more than 10,000 feet for almost the entire trip, the author follows the great road of the Incas, the Camino Real. Hand-built more than 500 years ago, this road crosses the most difficult and dangerous mountains in all the Americas, and life continues as if Columbus had never sailed. Finding and studying remote villages is central to the quest, and—despite dog attacks, sweltering canyons, floods, and stubborn donkeys—the author makes his way from the equator to Cuzco and on to the most magical city of all: Machu Picchu.

John Harrison comes from a line of aviators and seafarers. He began travel writing after a life-changing trip to Antarctica. Cloud Road won the Wales Book of the Year Award in 2011. He also won the inaugural Alexander Cordell Travel Writing Competition in 2004, and again in 2006. John is a frequent reviewer for New Welsh Review and the Mail on Sunday, and has written for Planet and the Daily Telegraph.