Machu man...Nick fights back after Covid ordeal

TV STAR Nick Knowles has revealed his health was hit so badly by long Covid he feared would struggle with a journey to Machu Picchu.

- Olivia Buxton

The DIY SOS star – who still experiences chest pains, fatigue and breathlessness – was so worried about filming his latest travel series about railways in South America that he had every precaution in place in case he collapsed.

Nick, 60, took the Andean Explorer – “like the Orient Express of the Andes” – to the ruins of the Inca city.

He said: “This series has been physically testing, especially Peru which is at a very high altitude. They carry oxygen on the train for anybody who gets into difficulty.

“There were people on the train, all different ages, who had altitude sickness and were on oxygen, and I was worried that I would be. But, luckily, I didn’t need it in the end.

“When I first arrived I had banging headaches and I was short of breath but after a couple of days I started to acclimatise. It sorted itself out.”