STOP... I’M ALIVE!
Missing hiker, 80, turns up just as desperate family appeal to find him
AN 80-year-old hiker missing for four days was reunited with his family yesterday – when he turned up as they were making an appeal to find him.
Harry Harvey, a retired shipyard worker from Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, disappeared while walking with a group from Tan Hill to Gunnerside in the Yorkshire Dales on Saturday. He was reported missing a day later and a search was organised by North Yorkshire Police with help from the RAF.
Mr Harvey’s family were to make a public appeal yesterday but, minutes before it started, he turned up at the inn they were using in a Land Rover, with members of the Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team.
Mr Harvey, who had a dressing on his head but no other visible signs of injury, hugged his son Phil and daughter-in-law Naomi.
Although Mr Harvey was insistent he had been in no danger throughout the trip, his wife Dorothy, 78, says he is now ‘grounded’.
Mr Harvey said: ‘I had three grand days of wild camping. I never felt scared, I had all the right kit, all the right training and I knew what to do.
‘My biggest problem was I only had £21.05p and I didn’t think that was enough to get back home. I saw a helicopter hovering overhead at one stage but I didn’t realise they were searching for me.
‘If I had known there had been all this fuss, I would have made my own way home. It is not my scene at all to have a fuss.
‘I wasn’t frightened but at one point I used my whistle, but no one heard me.
‘I was only worried because I have a hell of an appetite and I was running out of food.
The worst point was when I fell crossing a bridge over a stream. It was a tree across a stream with a mink trap on it. I stepped over the trap and went down and banged my head, which I patched up myself.
‘I rang my wife when I was found – I didn’t give her a chance to get angry with me, I put the phone down before she could.’ Mrs
Harvey said she burst into tears when he rang yesterday morning to say he was safe.
‘I was terrified. When I woke up this morning I felt sick,’ she said. ‘Harry is very fit for his age and an experienced backpacker. He has always been very sporty, and has run marathons and skied. But I was extremely worried. The first thing I will say to him when I see him is “You’re grounded”. But I will give him a hug first.’
Mr Harvey was spotted near Keld by a wildlife photographer who had seen North Yorkshire Police’s appeal. Inspector Mark Gee said: ‘This is fantastic news that Harry has been found safe and well. I want to thank all the search volunteers.’