Rescuers stretcher the injured walker to the ambulance service's all-terrain vehicle. Photo: NNPMRT

A walker was rescued from the path at Hadrian’s Wall after injuring his leg in a fall.

Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were alerted to the incident at the weekend.

The rescue continued a busy early autumn spell for volunteers from the two teams, with members called out 12 times since the beginning of September.

Iain Nixon, team leader for Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team, said: “Early Saturday afternoon we received a request from the North East Ambulance Service to assist in the rescue of a walker who had fallen and sustained a leg injury near Housesteads Fort on Hadrian’s Wall.

“Given the difficulty in accessing the casualty, we immediately called out both teams.”

One of the mountain rescue volunteers happened to be in the area and reached the injured walker at the same time as the community paramedic. Together, they worked to assess, treat and stabilise him while other mountain rescue volunteers made their way to the scene.

Once the man was immobilised, the team carried him on a stretcher with a wheel across difficult terrain to the ambulance service’s hazardous area response team’s Polaris vehicle which took him to a waiting ambulance.

The four-hour incident involved 16 volunteer members of the teams.

The two team were called out to incidents in September that included searches for vulnerable people in urban areas and rescues of injured walkers and cyclists.

“It’s been a particularly busy period for both teams.” Keith Briggs, team leader for North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team said. “In addition to those incidents that we’ve responded to, our members have also been continuing their training and we supported a number of local events such as the Cheviot Challenge and the Kielder Marathon.”