Scottish rescuers were kept busy at the weekend with a spate of incidents.

The most dramatic rescue happened after a kayaker overturned on the River Findhorn in Moray.

Rachel Walker, a paddler from Liverpool, received head and neck injuries in an inaccessible gorge between Randolph's Leap and the Mains of Sluie. Mountain Rescue teams were unable to stretcher her out of the gully.

An RAF Sea King helicopter, which was returning to its Lossiemouth base after a rescue on Ben Nevis, was summoned and the woman was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital, Inverness. She was discharged yesterday.

Michael Mulford of the RAF said: “The helicopter crew used all their skills to get a winchman down to her, stretcher her up and airlift her back to the chopper.

“The pilot had to hover on full power, using two engines, in the gorge to get the winchman down.

“She was airlifted very slowly up 225ft. That is a long, long bit of wire to be on the end of. The maximum wire available is 250ft, so this was one of the longest winch operations ever to take place. She was fortunate the weather was favourable for such a lengthy airlift.”

A 12-year-old boy was rescued by helicopter the previous day from Randolph’s Leap after breaking his ankle in a slip on rocks.

A German climber was rescued after becoming cragfast above a 200m drop on The Table, on Quiraing on Skye on Friday. The 49-year-old became disoriented in mist and then dropped his mobile phone midway through a phone call to emergency services. Stornoway Coastguard helicopter was dispatched and rescued the man, who had managed to give enough information to police before losing his phone.

And the Stornoway Coastguard helicopter was involved in a search for eight walkers, including four children, on Coll who got lost after leaving a coastal path to find shelter during bad weather. Clyde Coastguard was also involved after a member of the party made a 999 call from a mobile telephone.