Countryside around Witherslack, near Grange-over-Sands. Photo: Karl and Ali CC-BY-SA-2.0

Three mountain rescue teams and an RAF helicopter took part in a major search for a 71-year-old man who was eventually found safe and well at home.

Kendal Mountain Rescue Team was alerted by police at 4.45am today after receiving reports that the man was missing in the Witherslack area, on the southern edge of the Lake District, near Grange-over-Sands.

Handlers and animals from the Search and Rescue Dogs Association joined members of the team and colleagues from the Duddon & Furness and Kirkby Stephen teams in a major search of the area.

An RAF Sea King also joined the search.

A spokesperson for the Kendal team said: “With the agreement of the police, we were stood down shortly after 2pm, having exhausted all obvious search possibilities.

“We returned to our base in Kendal for a debrief and later in the afternoon we received a report that our missing person had turned up safe and well at his home in Scotland.

“A good outcome. It is understood that he hitched to Lancaster in the early hours of the morning and spent the night in a hotel before catching the train to Scotland.”