Using Channel 16 she contacted HM Coastguard at around 4.15pm on Tuesday (October 26) and reported that she had been cut off by the tide on Blakeney Point, Norfolk.
She wasn’t able to give her exact location but a fixed wing coastguard aircraft, which was carrying out a safety overwatch nearby, was sent to search, along with an RNLI lifeboat from Wells and Wells Coastguard Rescue Team in their all-terrain vehicle.
The woman was spotted waving from the deck of the small boat. With very little water in the channel an RNLI crew member was sent on foot, guided by the crew of the fixed wing aircraft, nearly 1200 feet above them and a coastguard from a nearby vantage point.
Wells Station Officer John Crosthwaite said: “We understand that this lady was walking the coastline of Britain and was attempting to take a shortcut through the harbour, but without a map she was lost and disorientated.
“We all worked together to find her and it was a great result.”
The RNLI crew member helped the woman off the boat and guided her across the salt marsh to the Old Lifeboat Station where they were met by the team of coastguards, who took her back to the mainland.
John said: “It was lucky that she was able to contact the coastguard. Her mobile phone was waterlogged and she had no other way of reaching us.
“It’s a good reminder of how important it is to take care at the coast, to use a map and to make sure you have a way of contacting us if you need us.”
