Rescuers with the walker on the Southern Upland Way. Photo: Tweed Valley MRT

A walker was taken to hospital after being found unconscious by rescuers on a long-distance trail.

The 49-year-old was reported overdue on Thursday evening when he failed to return home from an outing on the Southern Upland Way between Selkirk and Innerleithen.

Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 7.35pm by Lothian and Borders Police and the team started a search for the man.

Dave Wright of the team said the hillwalker had intended to camp overnight on the route. “He had made a call to his partner on Wednesday evening to say he had pitched his tent but uncharacteristically, did not make a call the next morning,” Mr Wright said. “He then failed to return home at the expected time on Thursday afternoon and was reported overdue in the early evening.”

The search teams were on the Southern Upland Way by 10pm and the missing walker was found unconscious in his tent just after midnight.

He was treated at the scene and a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet at Prestwick flew to the area, but was unable to reach the rescue site because of low cloud.

Tweed Valley team members stretchered the man to their Land Rover ambulance and then to Broadmeadows 6km (3¾ miles) west of Selkirk where he was transferred to a Scottish Ambulance Service vehicle about 2am.

He was then taken to the Borders General Hospital in Melrose.

Twenty members of the Tweed Valley MRT took part in the rescue.

Steve Penny, TVMRT team leader, said: “The team is pleased to have been able to assist, locate and evacuate the gentleman in the early hours of Friday morning.

“He required speedy evacuation from his position on the hill for treatment in hospital. Conditions were not ideal with poor visibility due to low cloud and mist, and this incident drew on many of the skills that our team members train hard for all year.”

About 40 miles of the Southern Upland Way, which runs from Portpatrick in Dumfries and Galloway to Cockburnspath in Berwickshire, is in the area covered by the Tweed Valley team.

The rescue was the sixth incident so far this year for the team, and the fifth within a month.