Corcovado and Cristo Redentor on foot

My roommate Lisa and I might be from entirely different backgrounds and the opposite side of the world, but we've discovered we have several things in common - apart from a love of aquatic sports, we both like walking when we're sightseeing. So we were the ringleaders in trying to get some of the ONS gang to walk up to Cristo Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer, the towering, iconic statue atop Corcovado. Corcovado is one of the many hills surrounding Rio and it has an enviable position with views out across city and bays.

Cristo from Lagoa

Walking is one of three ways to get to the top. The other two are the cog train, which leaves from Cosme Velho, and the 'vans' - minibuses, driving up from Copacabana or Paneiras. I did a fair amount of hunting for some decent instructions for the walking option and found enough to convince me it was doable, although many blogs were a couple of years out of date.

It isn't the longest or the hardest walk in the world but it is quite steep and I wouldn't recommend it if the path were at all wet - a lot of it would be incredibly slippery. Trainers at the least are needed and I was quite glad of my walking boots. Take plenty of water, even on a Brazilian winter's morning it was warm and muggy. My Garmin watch measured the walk at about 3km with about 700m of climbing and it took us just under two hours with a number of pauses. I'd say anyone with a moderate level of fitness would be able to do the walk, it might just take some people longer than others. We were passed by a couple of guys running down, which was probably excessively energetic!

You enter from Parque Lage, on the north shore of Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, near the Botanic Gardens (but a different park). Going into the park, follow the paths to your right and climb up, turning right if you hit a fork. There's a map just inside the entrance to the right but we didn't really need it.

Parque Lage is pretty. It has landscaped gardens with a magnificent house in the middle which has been taken over by Team GB as their hospitality house for the Olympics. On a Sunday morning it was, bizarrely, full of expectant couples having their pictures taken - lots of women with their hands on their bellies, that sort of thing. There are also monkeys.

In the north-east corner of the park there's a small hut where you have to write down your name and emergency contact details for somone, plus where you come from and how many people in your party.

Then the trail starts. It's narrow, but clear with waymarkers the whole way, and for the first 45 minutes to an hour it's reasonably steady. Then you hit a portion which is much steeper - but there are plenty of natural steps and tree roots to hang on to. After about 10 or 15 minutes there's a rocky bit, where there's a helpful chain and handholds to haul yourself up. It looks much harder than it actually is.

The steepness continues for another 10 minutes or so after that, then you cross the train lines, and then you get to the road for the vans. It's a short walk up the road with views starting to appear, and then you're at the base of the statue.

Getting in is easy. There's a lady selling tickets for walkers - R$24 in July 2016 - which, should you wish, will also take you back down a van to Paneiras as well as give you entrance to the monument. You can choose to walk up a few more flights of steps or take a lift then an escalator to get you to the viewing platform itself. Even on a pretty cloudy day this was thronged with people, mostly taking selfies or pics of their friends or partners or families. But the statue is incredible and the views, through broken cloud, pretty good too.

We had a drink in the cafe, which had surprisingly normal prices considering it's a tourist trap. We debated getting the van down and then plumped for a train, which costs R$22 down if you've walked up. There's a man selling train tickets just next to the lifts.

Botafogo through the clouds

You do not need to buy tickets in advance on the internet, as the official site says, and as I read on some blogs. Even our colleagues who went up on the train just got them at Cosme Velho, although they were there early.

Me and Lisa doing the touristy thing

The train down took maybe 20 minutes and we had to wait for about 10 minutes for one to arrive. It was fun, though not terribly comfortable! Then we just got an Uber to Botafogo, as we wanted some food, although Largo de Machado is technically the nearest metro station at about 30 minutes walk from Cosme Velho.

So it ended up being a good morning, despite the clouds, and I'd definitely recommend the walk.