The man broke his leg and dislocated it while walking near Small Water. Photo: Bikeboy CC-BY-SA-2.0

A walker with a broken leg had to be stretchered from a Lake District fell after bad weather prevented rescue helicopters reaching the scene.

The man fell near Small Water, below Nan Bield Pass on Tuesday.

Penrith Mountain Rescue Team was called out about 2.05pm and the Great North Air Ambulance and a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet in Ayrshire flew to the area but were thwarted in their attempts to reach the injured man by the weather.

A Penrith MRT spokesperson said: “So it was a long stretcher carry down to the waiting air ambulance in the car park at Mardale Head.

“Then we had to go back up to Small Water to collect all the gear we had left up there.”

The rescue took 5½ hours and involved 12 volunteer team members.