Good start! Hikers rescued on first day of holiday trek
AS they began a three-month walking tour of the UK, the two Danish students no doubt expected a few blisters and the odd drenching.
What cousins Sissel and Marie Bertelsen certainly didn’t anticipate was a dramatic rescue from a snowy hillside – only hours after setting off.
The cousins were attempting to trek all 268 miles of the Pennine Way as part of their tour of the UK and Ireland.
They embarked on their adventure from Kirk Yetholm, Roxburghshire, on Thursday but as night fell they struggled to cope with deep snow on the Cheviot Hills.
Their situation was made even worse by their lack of suitable equipment.
Sissel, from Farstrup, said they had not anticipated such harsh conditions. The 20-year-old added: ‘There was snow up to our knees almost – we didn’t expect it to be as cold. It didn’t look very good for us to stay up there overnight.’
The cousins arrived in Edinburgh on Wednesday at the beginning of their threemonth trip. The following day they headed for the hills and embarked on their adventure. But with daylight fading, they missed a refuge hut at Auchope Rigg and found themselves lost.
The cousins called 112 and asked for the fire service. The police were alerted and officers called out Border Search and Rescue Unit (BSARU).
The team, however, had no idea where the women were, even after speaking to them.
Thankfully a mobile-phone app showed that they were near Windy Gyle, so rescuers were able to track them down.
Stuart Fuller-Shapcott, the BSARU team leader, said: ‘The young women had just started the climb towards their exposed destination, which lies on the Pennine Way at 619m (2,000ft) and became aware they were getting increasingly tired and cold, and were far outside their comfort zone.’
Twenty team members were available, having been diverted en route to a monthly business meeting, so they all made their way to Cocklawfoot Farm in the Bowmont Valley. A local farmer helped shuttle some of the team onto the hill where the students were stranded, while the rest went on foot.
Rescuers found the two women ‘cold and wet’ but uninjured.
Mr Fuller-Shapcott said: ‘We warmed them and walked them to the Border Gate, where the farmer collected them and ferried them down into the valley.
‘Conditions at valley level were extraordinarily muddy and slippery after recent rain and snow-melt, which made vehicular access to the hill difficult.’
He said the cousins were inexperienced and under-equipped in terms of kit and hillcraft to be tackling the Cheviots in winter conditions. Mr Fuller-Shapcott added that he hoped that after ‘a few days reflection they will be wiser for the experience’.
The women said they intended to continue their trip – but would not be attempting the Pennine Way again.