Grandfather relives eight-day 'nightmare' in Highland wilderness

Ian Currie during a more successful trip a couple of years ago

A 76-year-old hillwalker who survived eight days lost in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands has described it as "one long black nightmare".

Ian Currie, from Edinburgh, had been attempting to walk from Glenfinnan to Knoydart when he got into perilous difficulty during bad weather.

The 30-mile strenuous and pathless trek across mountainous terrain, rivers and boggy ground is part of the Cape Wrath Trail and is normally completed in three days.

He told BBC Scotland News that he thought he was going to die during his ordeal but he was grateful to those - including the local laird - who came to his rescue.

"I am so happy I survived," the grandfather-of-one said.

"I kept thinking, if I'm dead I will never know how things turned out with my grandson's exams and how my friends are doing.

"I think that kept me going but it was one long dark nightmare.

"Never again will I be going off-piste like that, I've learned my limitations."

The experienced hillwalker set off on his expedition on 16 September after travelling to Glenfinnan by train.

He planned to walk 15 miles a day and complete the trek in two days - but he quickly fell behind schedule.

"There is no official trail, as such. If you look on the map there are dotted lines but when you get there they don't exist because the ground is so muddy and the river winds along a narrow valley," Mr Currie said.

"So you are mostly walking up the river knee-deep in water and then there are bits with, for example, a six-foot-high rock or waterfall, which you have to get around.

"You have to follow the river basically and that was the problem because the weather came in so the river was in spate (swollen and fast-flowing)."

Mud up to the groin

On the second night, he lay in his tent unable to sleep due to the "roar" of the wind and river.

The next day he attempted to divert up a mountain to get around a large waterfall on hands and knees through "very soggy ground".

"It is the mud and wet and that is so slow and energy-sapping and there was one point when one leg sank up to my groin in mud and it was very difficult to get out," he said.

He quickly became lost and when he set up his tent on the third night he found that it was soaked through - as was his sleeping bag and mobile phone, meaning he could not call for help.

Ian took this picture of his tent on the first day of his trek before the weather turned

He spent 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 able to do anything to help myself get out of there," he said.

By this time, a friend of Mr Currie had raised the alarm - as he had not arrived at a bunkhouse in Knoydart as expected.

Lying in his wet tent, Mr Currie hoped he might be rescued and listened for the sound of a helicopter, but it never came.

"I felt awful and lay there thinking 'how long does it take to die of exposure?'," he said.

When it stopped raining he found a spring where he was able to quench his thirst, but he was so unwell he was unable to eat one of the snack bars he was carrying.

He decided to try to walk back the way he came.

"It was hands and knees stuff and skidding down on your bum through water," he said.

He would walk for 10 minutes and then lie on his back, still attached to his rucksack, for 10 minutes.

Ian Pooleman, of Lochaber Mountain rescue, took this picture during the search

On the eighth day - 24 September - he came across an empty Lochaber Mountain Rescue vehicle, but the team's volunteers were out looking for him.

He was finally found by Sir Patrick Grant, who owns the local Glen Dessary estate, and a group of deer stalkers.

"I thought some walker was just waving to me but as I got near him I realised this man's distressed so I stopped and I said 'Are you Ian Currie?'," Sir Patrick said.

"And he said 'Yes I am' and he burst into tears.

"For someone who had been missing for eight days I was astonished he wasn't lying on the floor. He was tearful and distressed but able to stand up."

Sir Patrick added: "My wife and the team did a wonderful job getting hot tea with sugar into him and got him out of his wet clothes and into a hot bath and my wife cleaned and dried his clothes."

They also managed to track down Mr Currie's daughter and called her at work.

"She was sobbing and screaming and sobbing and sobbing," Mr Currie said.

Ian Currie during a walk in the Pentland Hills on the edge of Edinburgh

Now he wants to thank the members of Lochaber Mountain Rescue, police officers and volunteers for the "magnificent efforts" they put into finding him.

Mr Currie said he was also grateful for the support they gave his family and friends "who were going through hell, desperate to know what was happening to me".

He said Sir Patrick and his family treated him "so kindly".

And he added: "[The staff at Belford Hospital] were very busy treating people a lot sicker than me, but they were, without exception, compassionate, friendly and caring.

"On behalf of my family, friends and myself, thank you all."

Ian Pooleman, of Lochaber Mountain Rescue, said the team was delighted to find Mr Currie.

"I think the fact anyone was able to survive for all those days with very little food in such an inhospitable place with some pretty adverse weather conditions is pretty amazing," he added.

"I imagine, as we were starting to lose hope of finding him, he was starting to lose hope of finding his way back again."