A WOMAN undertaking a fundraising hike with two ponies and a dog has been rescued after getting lost on a mountain while trying to get a mobile phone signal.

 

The hiker was making a 210-mile charity trek between Buckie and Edinburgh when she became lost in Blair Atholl on Sunday.

She led the animals up the 2500ft mountain in Glen Tilt in an attempt to find a phone signal and call for help.

The walker then contacted the police, who asked Braemar and Tayside mountain rescue teams to attend.

A spokesman for Braemar MRT said: "It's a unique situation to get to the top of a 770-metre hill and find a walker, two ponies and a large dog up there all needing recovered off the hill.

"The went up a hill to get phone reception as thought she was lost in Glen Tilt. A cold night with snow on the tops down to 500 metres."

The hiker was undertaking the month-long trip to raise awareness of grass sickness, a disease which affects the nervous systems of ponies and hoses. The illness causes gut paralysis and is frequently fatal.