Two foreign residents hiking along the west coast had to be rescued last week after dramatic hours stranded on a cliff face.
The nightmare began when one of the men, a 66-year-old French citizen, slipped during a walking group’s weekly hike between Castelejo and Cordoama beaches.
“My feet slipped and I fell backwards”, he told journalists afterwards. “To avoid falling all the way down, I just had to hang on in there, and wait for the firemen.”
His friend, a 70-year-old English resident, had tried to save him but ended up stranded as well.
“I tried to help him, but the terrain was loose and it pulled me down,” he explained.
Both men then had to sit it out 20 metres down the cliff face as local firemen and maritime police were scrambled.
“They were fantastic,” said the men of their rescuers – although it took a couple of hours before both were brought, unharmed, back to safety.
