Two Bury women are embarking on a charity trek to the sacred site of Machu Picchu in Peru.

Michelle Thornhill, of Nuttall Lane, Ramsbottom, and Sarah Renwick, of Lever Street, Radcliffe, are among an 18-strong group who are completing the trek to raise money for the ADHD Foundation and Sport Relief.

Michelle is a nurse and operations director at the ADHD Foundation and Sarah works as a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The team arrived in Peru on Sunday and have been next few days acclimatising to the altitude before beginning their challenge today.

They will travel through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, finishing in the picturesque village of Ollantaytambo, then depart for Wayllambama tomorrow to start the four-day 43km Inca trail, which is 7,970 feet above sea level.

Before embarking on her trip, Michelle, aged 53, said: “I am terrified. I have walked up Holcombe Hill a few times, but nothing like this. It is something that we will all remember, and hopefully raise a lot of money for charity.”

Sarah, aged 47, is also a novice, and said: “I have done nothing like this before. I am a bit nervous, but really looking forward to it.”

The characteristics of ADHD include hyperactivity and low emotional resilience. The ADHD foundation was set up in 2007 to raise money for children and families living with the condition.

It is funded by NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Big Lottery, BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief, and works in partnership with clinicians from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.

Dr Tony Lloyd, acting chief executive officer of the ADHD Foundation and one of the climbers, said: “ADHD is the most prevalent neurodevelop- mental condition in childhood, affecting eight per cent of the UK population — approximately 500,000 children.

However, evidence suggests that the number of children actually diagnosed is somewhere between only one and three per cent, meaning that there are many children who remain undiagnosed, unsupported and at a greater risk of alarming health and social outcomes.”