Grandfather relives eight-day 'nightmare' in Highland wilderness

A 76-year-old hillwalker who survived eight days in a remote area of the Scottish Highlands has described it as "one long black nightmare. When he ran into perilous weather during bad weather, Ian Currie, a Edinburgh boy, had been trying to walk from Glenfinnan to Knoydart. The 30-mile strenuous and pathless trek across mountainous terrain, rivers, and boggy ground is part of the Cape Wrath Trail and is usually completed in three days. He thought he was going to die during his ordeal, according to BBC Scotland News, but he expressed appreciation to those who helped him save him, including the local laird.

The grandfather-of-one said, I am so glad I survived.I was wondering, if I'm dead, I'll never know how things turned out with my grandson's exams and how my relatives are doing.

I think that kept me going, but it was a long dark nightmare.

I'll never again be going off-piste like that," I've discovered my limits.

After travelling by train to Glenfinnan, the experienced hillwalker embarked on his journey on September 16th. He had intended to walk 15 miles a day and complete the trip in two days but fell behind schedule.

There is no official trail, as such. If you look at the map, there are dotted lines on the map; however, when you land, they don't exist because the ground is so muddy and the river winds along a narrow valley,

Mr Currie said.

So you're mostly walking up the river knee-deep in water, but there are parts with, for example, a six-foot-high rock or waterfall that you must get around.

You have to follow the river mainly, and that was the issue because the weather came in so the river was in spate (swollen and fast-flowing).

Mud up to the groin

He lay in his tent unable to sleep due to the wind and river's roar on the second night. He descended on a mountain to get around a huge waterfall on hands and knees through very soggy ground the next day.

It's the mud and wet, and it's so slow and sapping, and at one point, one leg sank up to my groin in mud, and getting out was difficult,

he said. He quickly became lost, and when he pitched his tent on the third night, he discovered it was soaked in - as well as his sleeping bag and cellphone, indicating he could not call for assistance. He stayed two nights there, exhausted and hemmed in by the weather.

I was whole body shivering-cold, and the worst part was not being able to sleep and not being in a position to help myself get out of there,

he said. By this time, a Mr Currie friend had sounded the alarm, but he had not arrived at a bunkhouse in Knoydart as expected. Mr Currie, lying in his wet tent, hoped to be rescued and listened for the sounds of a helicopter, but it never came.

I felt bad and lay on the ground wondering, 'how long does it take to die of exposure? ',

he said. He found a spring where he could quench his thirst, but he was too ill to eat one of the snack bars he had purchased. He decided to walk back the way he came.

It was hands and knees stuff and skidding down on your bum through water,

he said. He will walk for ten minutes and then lie on his back, still tied to his rucksack for a ten-minute period. He stumbled across an empty Lochaber Mountain Rescue vehicle on the eighth day, but the team's volunteers were out looking for him. He was finally discovered by Sir Patrick Grant, the owner of the local Glen Dessary estate, and a group of deer stalkers. I thought some walker was just waving to me, Sir Patrick said, but I realized this man was distraught so I stopped and asked, Is Ian Currie? '.Yes, I am,the boy exclaimed, and he burst into tears.I was astonished

that he wasn't lying on the ground for eight days. He was tearful and distraught, but he was able to stand up.

My wife and the team did a fantastic job with him, getting him out of his wet clothes and into a hot bath, and my wife and I cleaned and dried his clothes.

They also managed to locate Mr Currie's daughter and called her to work.

She was screaming and yelling and sobbing and sobbling,

Mr Currie said. Now he wants to thank the members of Lochaber Mountain Rescue, police officers, and volunteers for their

extraordinary efforts

in finding him. Mr Currie said he was also grateful for the help he and his family and friends

who were going through hell and desperate to know what was going to me. Sir Patrick and his family treated himso kindly,he said.The Belford Hospital workers were extremely busy, treating people a lot sicker than me,

he said, but they were, without exception, compassionate, helpful, and caring.

Thank you all on behalf of my family, acquaintances, and myself. Mr Currie was delighted to discover him, according to Ian Pooleman of Lochaber Mountain Rescue.

I think the fact that anyone survived for all those days with very little food in such an impoverished region with such harsh weather conditions is pretty amazing,

he said. "I imagine, as we began to lose hope of finding him, he was beginning to lose traces of his returning to us.