Kielder

Incident Type: Rescue

Later on Saturday afternoon, ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were requested to assist by Northumbria Police after a mountain biker made a 999 call reporting that she and her friend had been lost in Kielder Forest for around three hours while riding the Osprey Trail, near to Kielder village, and it was now getting dark.

Fortunately, before the 999 call dropped out the mountain bikers provided a grid reference from the Osprey Trail way marker they were beside, allowing responding Teams to focus efforts on a known location. Response vehicles which were travelling to a training exercise were immediately redirected towards Kielder, with additional resources placed on standby should a search be required.

Thankfully at 17:45hrs the two mountain bikers were located exactly where they had reported themselves to be. They were very cold but otherwise fit and well. After being fully checked over and rewarmed, they were transported back to their accommodation, along with their hire bikes.

Once the phone signal had dropped out, the pair stayed in the same location until Mountain Rescue arrived — which is exactly the right thing to do if you realise you are lost and cannot re-establish contact. Staying put makes it far easier for the rescue teams to find you quickly.

We would like to thank Kielder Waterside for their kindness and hospitality towards our volunteers after the incident. Support like this is greatly appreciated, especially on cold winter evenings.

A good outcome, and with cold weather affecting our region, a reminder to plan carefully, carry spare warm kit, and know what to do if things don’t go to plan.

The incident involved 11 Team members for 4 hours 37 minutes. A further 14 members were on standby in case the incident escalated.