The walker was lost in the dark and fog on Bleaklow

A walker lost on the Peak District’s second-highest hill had to call for help at midnight after spending hours trying to find his way.

The man, from Tameside in Greater Manchester, made the emergency call to get navigation advice to help him off Bleaklow.

Glossop Mountain Rescue Team was contacted to try to help the walker. A team spokesperson said: “He spent many hours trying to correct a navigational error in the thick fog before calling for advice.

“The uncertainty of his location made it difficult to talk him off the moor and a search was instigated involving 13 Glossop team members, a dog from Kinder team and second dog from Oldham team.

“Police air support was unavailable due to the low cloud base. After two hours one of the search sections located the hiker having seen the flashes of his torch and heard his whistles.

“The hiker was well equipped and this was a major factor in the rapid conclusion of the search.”

The spokesperson said the volunteer rescuers arrived home about 4am, in time to grab a couple of hours’ sleep before rising again to go to their day jobs.

The rescue was the latest in a busy period for the Peak District’s mountain rescue teams, which have been called out more than 10 times since Friday.