SEARCH and rescue volunteers were called out after a walker collapsed of exhaustion at the weekend.

The walkers were attempting to the 42-mile Lyke Wake Walk from Ravenscar to Osmotherly across the North York Moors  At 9pm on Saturday one of the walkersa called 999 to say one of the party had collapsed with exhaustion near the Lion Inn at Blakely, which is one of the highest and most remote areas of the trail.

Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team (CMRT) along with their sister team, Scarborough and Ryedale MRT, were mobilised and began searching the route of the Lyke Wake Walk in the dark.

Because of the poor conditions, the police requested the help of the Coastguard Search and Rescue Helicopter from Humberside, which, using its specialised search equipment, located the walking party within ten minutes of arriving on scene.

The crew of the helicopter stabilised the condition of the walkers before winching them into the aircraft and flying them to James Cook Hospital for a precautionary check over.

Around 20 Mountain Rescue volunteers were involved in the incident that lasted two hours.

CMRT team spokesman Pete Mounsey said: “This could have been a serious incident for the two walkers as the conditions were deteriorating into sub-zero temperatures and snow as the night wore on.”