Simonside

A couple walking the ‘back of Simonside’ from Lordenshaws got into difficulty as they tried to walk the section from Selby’s Cove through the forest (or what remains of it!) to Bob Pyle’s Studdie. They had tried to find a way through the fallen trees after Storm Arwen but to no avail and they were not confident to proceed. By this stage the walkers were also getting tired, wet and cold.

The walkers decided the best course of action was to ring Northumbria Police and request assistance from Mountain Rescue. North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team and ourselves duly responded, with our duty controller sending PhoneFinds – a text based location app – to the walkers’ mobiles and a text asking them to remain at their location and await contact from Mountain Rescue. The duty controller then spoke to the walkers who were able to provide a grid reference using the OS Locate app on their phone and they also described their location. The location was then confirmed by PhoneFind.

At this point our 4×4 response vehicle based in Rothbury was deployed with two volunteer members on board. The vehicle drove up through Simonside Forest to Bob Pyle’s Studdie before the team members made their way on foot to the walkers’ location. Once safely located, the walkers were walked back to the response vehicle and transported around to their car at Lordenshaws.

A relatively swift and straightforward incident with a positive outcome for all. The walkers did exactly the right thing by requesting help before their predicament became any worse.

The incident involved 5 Team members for 1 hour 45 minutes.