It was about ten o clock when we reached the top of the tenth mountain and I was beginning to feel hungry.

" I'm hungry. " shouted Joe staggering up last of all.

" Not till we find the birds. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Yo pat da goo. " said our guide pointing down the valley.

We stood on a high ridge looking down into a deep valley a thousand feet below, the valley ran away to the far horizon and into the mist.

We looked where the guide was pointing, far away I could just about see. . . . . . . . . nothing.

" What's he seen. " I asked Ben.

Now Ben, who's real name was Benaglio Gunichicta Acchanca came along with us because he could speak English and Peruvian, where as the guide who was taking us up the mountain could only speak Peruvian.

" He's seen the Condor. " said Ben.

We all dumped our heavy rucksacks on the ground and Mr Pepperday gout out the powerful binoculars.

" Heavens . . he's got good eyesight. " said Mr Pepperday. " I can only just make them out with these. "

I had a look through the binoculars. Far off in the mist two shapes were circling round and round hovering in the air.

" Ya ka mara kirnata icoma semaik sho motio clemintea. " said the guide.

" They will come up the valley to their nest on the opposite side. " said Ben.

" All we can do is wait here then. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Does that mean. " said Joe. " That we can eat. "

" I know you'd rather go on. " said Mr Pepperday. " But force yourself to have a little something. "

" If you insist. " said Joe already emptying his rucksack looking for the camping stove.

It was a nice day high up there in the mountains, the sun was shinning, a gentle breeze was blowing and we had a lovely dinner of chicken stew. We sat sipping our coffee watching the giant Condors slowly coming towards us.

Although it was a nice way to laze away a sunny day, if you forgot the long climb that is, there was a serious purpose behind our being there, or being in Peru at all. That was the Condor.

When Mr Pepperday had planned the expedition it just so happened that we would be in South America at the same time as two of the worlds best mountaineers, Alex Drew and Peter Standwitch. A film company had said that they would pay for a good part of our expedition if we could get some film of the Condor nesting, which is where Alex Drew and Peter Standwitch come in. The Condor don't like people much, in fact they don't like anyone much, so they nest in the most difficult places to get at, this is usually half way up a cliff face.

" There they are. " said Mr Pepperday looking at the other side of the valley through the binoculars.

I watched through my binoculars as the huge birds circled and eventually landed on a small ledge half way up the mountain just where a huge cliff face dropped from the ridge on the opposite side of the valley several hundred feet to the valley floor.

" That's the place. " I said.

" Couldn't they have picked a better place. " said Mr Pepperday. " Like somewhere in the middle of town. "

" That's the only ledge on the whole mountain. " said Joe. I studied the mountain above and below the ledge where the birds were nesting.

" I don't think they want us to go and visit. " I said.

For several hundred feet around the ledge the cliff face was bare rock. We waited untill the sun was shinning across the face of the cliff at an angle giving long shadows, then as requested by the mountaineers we photographed the whole area.

That night me and Joe developed and printed the film of the mountain.

When we had finished printing we stuck all the photographs together to form one big picture of the mountain. This we then pinned up on the wall.

" That's some mountain. " said Joe.

" We'll never do it. " I said.

" I bet those climbers will. " said Joe. " I've seen them work there isn't much they can't climb. "

" It's not just getting there. " I said. " We've got to film them and there is just no where close enough to do it from. "

" My brain hurts. " said Joe. " I'm going to bed. "

" How about putting all this gear away. " I said.

" Lets do it in the morning. " said Joe.

After all that walking I didn't take much persuading.

It was almost midday before we woke up.

" Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrr. . . . . . . . " shouted Joe. " I can't move. . . . "

" O. K. " I said, " Don't shout. " I rolled out of bed, I was a bit stiff from all that walk but didn't feel too bad.

" I can't move. " said Joe. " Help. "

I looked at Joe and started laughing.

" Shut up and help me. " said Joe.

Joe was laying underneath a large wooden board. The night before we had been so tired that we just turned the light out and slid into our beds. Joe had completely forgotten that we had put this wooden board on his bed to lay the photographs on while they were drying. Joe had just slid into underneath it. I pulled the board off.

" Mind my toes. " shouted Joe.

" How did you get into bed without noticing it. " I said.

" Thought the blankets were a bit heavy. " said Joe.

" We'd better get some breakfast or dinner or what ever's going. " I said.

" Ooooooooo. . . " said Joe. " My legs gone dead. " Joe thumped up and down the room trying to get the circulation going again in his legs.

We were unpacking some of our equipment in Timia Cara when we heard shouts, cheers and whistles from the other end of the main street. Slowly the noise got closer as a great crowd of children moved up the street following two men. One of the men was tall with ginger hair and a big ginger beard. The other was short with black hair and a crew cut, just a shadow of a beard. The shouting and fuss was caused by the fact that they wore nothing except hiking boots and very small shorts. On their backs they carried huge packs piled high with ropes, mugs, hammers and metal climbing gear all jingling as they walked. The two men were whistling and shouting along with the children obviously enjoying sudden popularity.

" You must be one of the zoo people. " said the tall one with the ginger beard.

" How did you know. " I said.

" You're the only one in the village wearing a pith helmet. " he said.

" Well you're right. " I said, " You must be the climbers. "

" It shows doesn't it. " said the small one.

" I'm Peter Standwitch. " said the tall ginger one. " And this is Alex Drew. "

" This is Joe. " I said, " Mr Pepperday is beck at the farm we'll go there and he will tell you what we want. "

As we walked to the farm Peter and Alex told us about the places they had been climbing in Peru.

At the farm Mr Pepperday was studying the photographs of the mountain we had Dinned up on the wall.

" Now that is some cliff. " said Peter.

" We didn't want to insult you with anything too easy. " said Mr Pepperday.

" You haven't. " said Alex.

They both studied the photographs in some detail.

"Did you bring your ladders. " said Joe.

" Talking of food. . . . isn't it about dinner time. " said Alex.

" Now there's some one who talk's my language. " said Joe.

Lemara had cooked us a lovely meal and during it we discussed the problem in hand, that of filming the Condor on its nest.

At least I tried to discuss the problem, everyone else was involved in a deep debate on how to build a better mouse trap and whether the world really would beat a path to your door.

" Perhaps a lot of ropes. " I said.

" More cheese in it. " said Joe.

" It's the humane side that would appeal. " said Alex.

" A one way flap. " said Mr Pepperday.

" How will we get the camera to the nest. " I said vainly.

" You still need publicity. " said Peter.

" That's it, I think. . perhaps. . " said Joe.

" It's the cheese problem. " said Peter.

" I'm going to jump in the lake. " I said. . . but no one was listening to me, so I took Lemara for a walk in the moonlight.

It was a lovely night. I put my arm around Lemara and we walked slowly along the path to the village.

" Do you like Peru. " she said.

" It's a strange place. " I said. " It's so big. . . . perhaps that's the wrong word;. . so, . . well on a grand scale. The mountains so huge the distances so vast. "

" Yes after England it does seem like that. " said Lemara. " But when you get to know it, it has a magic all of its own. "

" I can believe that. " I said.

Lemara put her head on my shoulder and we walked silently untill we saw the lights of the village.

" I hear music. " I said.

" Some one is having a party. " said Lemara. " Lets see who. " We entered a small house filled with people. A man was playing what looked like small bagpipes, another the pan pipes while a third was beating the rhythm on a tambourine with a double ended drum stick. All the people were clapping and singing. A cup was pushed into my hand. " Nogotosh. " said someone knocking his cup against mine and downing his drink in one go. Not wishing to be unsociable. . . . .

" Nogotoshish. " I said. . . and took a big gulp from the cup. Everything from my front teeth backward went quite numb. Another few gulps and I didn't care, I was dancing with Lemara.

" Nogogotosisish. " I said downing another. I was enjoying myself, especially as normally I can't dance, nobody seemed to mind. The Peruvian chicken dance I think it was. . . . . . . . . I seemed to float back to the farm, it felt like that. I think I was being carried by four big strong farmers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

" Aaaaaaarrrrraa. . . Oooooooooooo. . " I said.

" Somebody had a good time last night. " said Joe getting out of bed. " Are we at sea again. " I said.

" No. " said Joe.

" Then why is the room going up and down. " I said.

" It is 'nt. " said Joe. " It's the inside of your head that 's going up and down. "

" Ooooooooo. . . . . " I moaned and put my head under the covers. " Even the darkness is going ut and down. . " I said.

Lemara came into the room. " Where is he. " she said.

" Trying to hide from himself. " said Joe pointing to the lump, in my bed.

" Come on. " said Lemara, pulling back the cover, " Drink this. " she gave me a mug of thick brown liquid. I took a sip.

" It's awful. " I said.

" Drink it up. " she said, " And no arguing. "

I drank It up I hadn't the strength to argue.

" What is it. " I said.

" It '11 get rid of your hangover. " said Lemara.

" What hangover. " I said holding onto my head to stop it falling off.

" You impressed allot of people last night by the amount you drank. " said Lemara

Joe started laughing. " He didn't did he. " said Joe.

" Like a trooper. " said Lemara.

Joe couldn't stop laughing. " Well that's a good one. " he said.

" Does he do it often. " said Lemara.

" Him. " said Joe. " The original one pint man. "

" I didn't think he was used to it. " said Lamara.

" The brewing industry would be in a poor state if it had to rely on people like him. " said Joe.

" Do you mind. " I said, " I am trying to die quietly. . . . "

The maps and photographs were out again as the climbers again studied the mountain.

" I think we should try coming down from the top. " said Alex.

" I was just thinking that we should go up from the bottom. " said Peter.

" I'm glad you two agree about it. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Lets see the map. " said Peter. They all studied the map.

" You're right Alex. " said Peter. " Around the back and over the top. "

" No. . . " said Alex. " There's a ridge look. . . . it's up from the bottom like you said. "

" Are you sure you're a team. " said Joe.

" There's only one thing for it. ' said Alex. " We'll have to compromise and go all the way round the middle half way up the mountain. "

" They're as daft as you and Joe. " said Mr Pepperday.

I was feeling hungry by the time we reached the top of the tenth mountain.

" O. K. " shouted Alex. " Time for lunch. "

Joe and Alex set too and were enjoying themselves with the primus stove, so I went with Peter and Mr Pepperday to look at the cliff face.

Peter studied the cliff on the opposite side of the valley through his binoculars.

" What exactly do you want. " he said.

" Well. " said Mr Pepperday. " Basically we want to be able to set up a hide about twenty feet away from the nest and slightly above. "

" What sort of hide. " said Peter.

" The big one you saw back at the farm. " said Mr Pepperday.

There was a long silence. . . . . . . .

" No way. " said Peter at length. " The only decent ledge on the whole mountain is the one the birds have their nest on. "

Joe and Alex had cooked us all scrambled bean omelettes with herb's that Alex had been hoarding in his rucksack.

" The best we could do. " said Peter after we had eaten. " Is set you up in a bivouac with your camera clamped to the rock face. "

" I'm not with you. " said Joe. " What's a bivouac. "

" Well in this case it will be a sleeping bag fixed to the rock face at both ends with metal spikes driven into the rock face. " said Peter.

" Is it safe. " said Joe.

" Unless you sleep walk it is. " said Alex.

" Do I take it someone sits in the sleeping bag with the camera. " said Mr Pepperday.

" We'd bolt a tripod to the cliff face near the top of the bag, you wouldn't have to hold the camera. " said Peter.

" Sounds a bit hairy. " said Mr Pepperday.

" Best we can do. " said Peter.

" Tea anyone. " said Alex. pouring us all a mug of hot brown mud.

Alex stood on the edge of the cliff face looking down to where we wanted to be.

I put on a safety harness, tied a rope around myself, put on another safety harness, clipped another rope on and tied it to the biggest piece of rock I could find. I was ready. . . . I inched my way to the edge of the cliff to join Alex. I looked down.

Suddenly I felt the mountain beneath my feet move, . . . . . it began to move upwards and forwards, tipping me down the face of the cliff. . . . . . . . . .

My knuckles turned white griping onto the ropes. Alex saw my face turn to an ash grey and he pulled me back from the edge.

" I'm sorry. " I said. " There's no way I can go down there. "

" Are you all right. " said Peter.

" I will be when the mountain stops quivering like a jelly. " I said.

" Not one of the worlds natural climbers. " said Alex.

" I get dizzy on thick carpets. " I said.

" I don't know why you even went near the edge. " said Mr Pepperday.

" The body's willing. " I said " It's the nerves that aren't. "

" Will you two be all right. " said Peter to Joe and Mr Pepperday.

" I've not done it since the war. " said Mr Pepperday. " But the height doesn't bother me

and we couldn't be in better hands. "

" And you. " said Alex to Joe.

"I'll try anything once. " said Joe. " As long as I can take sandwiches. "

Alex took off his heavy walking boots and put on a pair of soft soled boots that looked a bit like ballet shoes. Peter roped himself to my large rock and threw a rope down the cliff. Alex clipped another rope to his waist wrapping the first rope around his shoulder, be backed towards the cliff.

" O. K. " said Alex. " Climbing. . . " he disappeared over the edge along with my stomach, which was beginning to wish it hadn't had Joes omelette.

Everything was set for the following day, the ropes positioned, bivouac set and tripod attached to the cliff. Joe and Mr Pepperday had been down and come back up and were happy. Mr Pepperday would spend four hours in the morning and Joe four hours in the afternoon filming on the cliff face. Peter and Alex would take them down and bring them up. I like lord of the manor would be sitting on the opposite side of the valley with my big lens filming long shots of the birds coming and going. I'd got the easy job or so I thought. . . . . . !

Activity on a Condors nest is always early morning and evening and as it was a five hour walk from the village to the valley, it meant we would have to camp out on the mountains.

We took eight days supplies with us and set off. Needless to say that I was feeling hungry by the time we reached the valley. We set up base camp on the side of the valley I would be filming from. I would stay at base camp while Mr Pepperday, Joe, Peter and Alex would take one days supplies and walk round the head of the valley down to where the birds were on the other side. This trip took about two hours. Because of the early start and late finish Mr Pepperday and the others would have to sleep on the far side of the valley just above the place where the birds were. The plan was that they would come back mid day to base camp for a hot meal that I would have ready for them at noon.

It hadn't struck me what this plan meant. Not untill they left mid afternoon on the first day ready to start filming the following morning. I sat busying myself cleaning my camera, gradually I heard the silence, . . . . miles of it. . . . . Inside my head the realisation grew that I was going to spend the night on the mountain alone, in the dark. The very Peruvian dark. . . . . . Suddenly, England, the Pig and Shovel, my bicycle, all seemed a very long, long, long long long way away.

The devil finds work for idle brains, I thought I'll read a book. I remembered that Joe had put some in his pack. How I cursed Joe, his selection of books could not have been worse. . . . 'Cry of the Werewolf' . . . 'Revenge of the Mummy . . . . . . . and 'Terror in the Night'. Much depressed I rummaged around the tent and luckily, found a book Alex had brought along. . . ' Judy's Naughty Nights. '. Now that was a bit better. I tidied up the camp and went into my tent just as the sun was beginning to set, I then snuggled down my sleeping with Judy. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following morning after breakfast, a bowl of hot porridge, I got out the big lens. It was about a yard long and weighed a ton, well it seemed like it. We had a special dumpy tripod for this, so I set up the whole thing looking over to the opposite side of the valley, to where the birds were. I screwed the camera on and squinted through to see what I could see, which was nothing. The sun was not yet full up so there was not enough light for the lens. I could not see any activity on the opposite cliff face so I decided to have half an hour with Judy. As the sun began to fill the valley with a brilliant morning light I saw the climbers starting down the cliff face. Pulling the brim of my hat down over one eye I again squinted through my camera to watch. I concentrated on the image in the camera. The trouble with these very big lenses is that over a distance of about half a mile all you see is an area of about four square yards. I looked at my four square yards.

Now when all you can see consists of four square yards of featureless rock amid a square mile of featureless rock, finding the bit you want takes quite a bit of panning about. It took me about fifteen minutes before my lens came across a pair of climbing ropes. I slowly moved my camera down the ropes untill I saw Mr Pepperday and Alex setting up the camera. Mr Pepperday climbed into the sleeping bag, hanging vertically on the cliff face, clipped himself to several hooks and finally spread a camouflage net over himself and the camera. Alex climbed back up the mountain.

I slowly panned my camera to the left, away from Mr Pepperday and onto the nest site. Suddenly there it was, I locked my camera firmly in position, hardly daring to breathe as I got my first sighting of the Giant Condor.

The morning session over Joe, Mr Pepperday, Alex and Peter started the long walk around the top of the valley while I started to cook dinner.

" It's good to have the walk back here. " said Mr Pepperday as we all sat around having our dinner. " I got pretty stiff cramped up in that hide on the cliff. " he said.

" I thought you would. " said Peter. " That's why I suggested walking back for dinner each day. "

" You couldn't do it day after day without some exercise. " said Alex.

" You're really making me look forward to my session. " said Joe.

" Did you get any good film. " I said.

" About twenty minutes of good stuff. " said Mr Pepperday. " We've

just timed it right, there is a chick in the nest. I've not been able

to get a good look there's definitely one maybe two. "

" What's in this stew. " said Alex.

" I don't know. " I said. " It was in that box, it's label said two man two day pack, so I thought if I mix it all together it will be all right for four men on one day. "

" It doesn't work quite like that. " said Peter.

" I've got chocolate in mine. " said Joe.

" Well it's hot. " said Alex. " And prunes were never much on their own. "

" But with spaghetti. . . . " said Mr Pepperday.

These intellectual conversations were the highlight of the next few days as the routine of filming went on day by day. I got used to the quiet nights alone on the mountain, but still I didn't open Joe's books I kept with Judy and her Naughty Nights, it being the only other book we had brought along. I had got to know Judy pretty well by the time we had finished filming.