Pennine Way
Incident Type: Search
At just after 09.00hrs on Friday morning, a message popped up on the Team’s Instagram account – a walker had spotted a full ‘rucksack’ on the Pennine Way near to the Hanging Stone. But this wasn’t just any bag; it was a dry duffel on a frame with oversized wheels, and something about it didn’t sit right. A call to the Police was also rightly made by the walker.
With no missing person reports and the heat soaring over the previous few days, the situation seemed like it might involve a walker in distress, maybe dehydrated and in search of water.
Following a call to Police Scotland, Border Search and Rescue Unit (BSARU) agreed with North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team and ourselves that cross-border action was required. Having worked through a few scenarios, including that the owner had purposefully left the ‘trolley’ and was safely off the hill, a limited response was initiated to locate the bag and investigate.
Volunteers from the Scottish side of the border combed the area near Cheviot Burn and the Hanging Stone, while volunteers from the English side drove a response vehicle along the nearby forest tracks and walked an ‘escape route’ up onto the hill to the Hanging Stone.
Writing on the ‘rucksack’ initially seemed to provide a name and address, which was passed to the Police for further enquiries. The ‘rucksack’ was then dragged 4km down the hill to
Hexpeth Gate – the nearest 4×4 vehicle access – by a BSARU member.
Then, the power of social media kicked in and within a few hours, the leads started to roll in. A number of sightings of a man earlier in the week pulling and carrying a ‘trolley’ were confirmed in Wooler, Hethpool and then on the Pennine Way over Auchope Cairn. The descriptions of the man all matched. Information received also suggested the ‘trolley’ had broken and on closer look at the bag the scrawled message was “Cart Broken” and not a person’s name!
The real breakthroughs came at 17.20hrs and 18.00hrs when a local builder confirmed he had given a walker a lift from near Kidlandlee in Kidland Forest to Alnwick and then a member of staff at a retailer in Alnwick confirmed a man had been in to buy a holdall to carry some of his kit back home. In both cases the walker mentioned he had ditched his ‘trolley’ in The Cheviots.
At this point the three Mountain Rescue Teams decided to stand down from any further searching and await confirmation from the Police that our mystery man had been contacted. Shortly before 19.00hrs, the Police duly confirmed the person had been traced and was safe albeit not at home, and that he was eager to have his trolley and its contents back!
Whilst the incident was wholly avoidable, we are very glad the walker is safe. We would only ask that if anyone has a similar issue in the future that they contact the Police and ask them to make Mountain Rescue aware.
On a positive it was a stunning day to be out in the hills of Northumberland!
Many thanks to everyone who shared the social media posts from the three Mountain Rescue Teams and provided vital information, helping us to piece together what had happened. Finally Police Scotland and West Mercia Police did a great job at tracking the mystery owner of the broken trolley down.
The incident involved 11 members from the three Teams for 9 hours 36 minutes. Two drone pilots from SARAA – Search and Rescue Aerial Association were also on standby.
