A WOMAN who suffered a serious leg break after slipping while on a woodland walk was stretchered to safety by Bolton Mountain Rescue.

Twelve team volunteers went to the aid of the 50-year-old St Helens woman, who was on a footpath leading from High Bullough Reservoir to Anglezarke Reservoir in the Rivington area.

The rescue team had been patrolling the area in four team vehicles and were contacted by the ambulance service.

Paramedics were unable to reach the woman in their ambulance but the mountain rescue four-wheel vehicles were able to negotiate tracks to reach her.

She was given pain-killing gas and drugs and her leg was put in a vacuum splint before she was stretchered half-a-mile to the ambulance. The woman was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where she underwent an operation to insert pins into her broken leg.

Among the first on the scene following the call at around 3.10pm on Sunday was Bolton Mountain Rescue team leader Garry Rhodes.

"There was a loose surface on a slope and she simply slipped," said Mr Rhodes. "It was a very serious leg break. Fortunately, one of our members is also an accident and emergency nurse at Warrington Hospital so she got that same level of care at the scene.

"When people slip it doesn't seem to take much to cause a fracture. This is quite a common injury."