A FELL walker is recovering after a dramatic rescue which was captured on her friend’s mobile phone.

Keen hiker Liz Johnson, from Brigsteer, broke her hip after slipping on rock while walking with friends at Riggindale Ridge, near Haweswater, on Sunday.

After 45 years of fell walking, including in the Himalayas, it was the first time Ms Johnson had ever had an accident.

Mountain rescuers and the Great North Air Ambulance were sent to help the 64-year-old at around 2pm after friend Jenny Kagan alerted the emergency services.

But low cloud meant the helicopter could not land, so an RAF Sea King helicopter was scrambled to winch Ms Johnson to safety.

Ms Kagan took pictures of the rescue before Ms Johnson was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary, in Carlisle.

Speaking from her hospital bed this week, Ms Johnson said she was feeling ‘a lot better’ after her operation.

And, although the fall was painful, she cannot wait to get back on the fells again.

“The cloud came down pretty low, so after we had been walking for an hour and a half we decided we would turn back,” said Ms Johnson.

“We had just taken that decision when I stepped on a rock, which was slippery, and bashed my hip.

“When I tried to stand up I realised I couldn’t and I was in an awful lot of pain.

"It was obvious that I needed to be lifted off the fell in a helicopter.”

A two-and-a-half-hour wait was made worse by low temp-eratures, but Ms Johnson was helped by other walkers.

“There was a group of walkers from Manchester who were just fantastic,” she said.

“They stayed with us for quite a long time. They gave us extra clothes and a wonderful tent sort of thing to keep us warm. It was extremely cold.”

Ms Johnson, who enjoys walking up Scout Scar near Kendal several times a week, was heavily sedated when the Sea King arrived, but remembered the moment she knew she was finally being rescued.

“The move was extremely painful,” she explained. “I was mightily relieved because I knew someone was going to take me off the fells and get me to safety.

"It was quite exciting, but I would have preferred not to have broken a bone.”

Ms Johnson added: “Everybody was just wonderful; the air ambulance, the mountain rescue, the RAF and the people who stopped to help.”