At 19:18 on Friday evening Dartmoor Search and Rescue volunteers were called out to search for a middle-aged walker who had become lost on the south moor of Dartmoor National Park.
Fortunately, the walker was in an area of good mobile phone coverage and managed to use his mobile phone to call for help. He had become disoriented on Dartmoor as the weather deteriorated and darkness fell and although unharmed was unaware of his location.
By talking to the walker our search manager ascertained that he was probably near the puffing billy track somewhere north of Three Barrows. Two rescue team landrovers were dispatched to drive along the track while search control was established at Shipley Bridge. Mobile phone contact was maintained with the walker and he was talked towards the track and told to look for the blue flashing lights of the landrovers. At 20:33 he was located and was, as expected, on the puffing billy track 1Km north of Three Barrows near Left Lake mires.
He was returned by landrover to Shipley Bridge a little cold and damp but none the worse for his experience. Our search manager said: ‘The walker was lucky that he was in an area of mobile phone coverage as we could work out quickly where he was likely to be. If he had no mobile signal we may have had to search all night and considering the bad weather there was a chance he would have become hypothermic'.
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