Beckthorns Gill, St Johns in the Vale (101)

Callout Date: 13/10/2022
Callout Time: 10:00 am
Agencies Involved: Keswick MRT (sheep division)

A farmer from St Johns in the Vale was gathering his sheep when one of them decided a ghyll scramble in Beckthorns Gill looked like a much more interesting proposition. Unfortunately not being very Adventure Smart the sheep fell and landed on a ledge part way down a steep and narrow part of the gill. Unable to get to the sheep the farmer called for help.

Mountain rescue have a long history with sheep rescues with well over 200 sheep rescued by Keswick team alone. 

The team arrived, fought their way up through the chest-high bracken then rope-rigged from a large boulder and a tree to lower a team member down into the gill to perform a single sheep pick-off. When the rescuer arrived at the ledge, for whatever reason the sheep decided that self-rescue was the preferred option and launched itself off the ledge to land in the pool below. A real life woolly jumper! The sheep seemed to suffer no ill effects from its hasty escape.

7 team members – 2 hours