Incident report

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team called together with two Search & Rescue Dogs following the report of an elderly lady with her son benighted somewhere in the Lathkill Dale area.

An 84 year old lady from Buxton together with her son had gone for a walk along the Limestone Way from the Moor Lane car-park near Youlgreave when darkness descended.  They became disorientated and finally lost in the steep sided wooded valley.  Police were alerted by a relative but had little information to work on.  It wasn’t until after midnight when the son managed to get a phone signal from the valley that the police were able to roughly guess where the couple were.

Just as the team were arriving at the rendezvous when police officer reported hearing calls from Cales Dale.  However, the terrain was too steep and wooded for the officer to precisely locate the missing people.

The team entered the dale from both ends and began sweeping through the valley.  It wasn’t long before the lady and her son were located, unharmed but very cold.  Both were given food and drinks whilst being examined.  Whilst the man was able to walk out unaided, the lady was placed on a stretcher and carried out of the dale and back to the car-park.

After being given more food and drinks the couple were able to make their own way home.