TRAPPED by the tide, stricken with severe hypothermia, unconscious for more than half a day, Matt Halliday’s family were “frantic” looking for him.
The 51-year-old had gone missing while out walking in Dumfries and Galloway on February 4, and hadn’t been heard from since a storm had rolled in over the Rhins peninsula.
“I ended up getting trapped by the tide,” he told The National.
“I got severe hypothermia. Long story short I was unconscious for about 13 hours.
“I only got woken up as where I had taken shelter from the rain, it all collapsed on top of us. I was buried in a mudslide and the pressure of that brought me back to consciousness.”
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His legs failing him, Matt dragged himself out to the edge of the water where he was able to get signal on his phone, which had also managed to survive the ordeal, and call the coastguard.
He was later told he’d had “about an hour left” to live when he made that phonecall.
He’d been out along the same path which he’d walked “for the last 30-odd years”, but he still got into trouble “really quickly”.
With the sea too rough for a lifeboat to fetch him, and the floodwaters too high for the coastguard to carry him out, a rescue helicopter was called from Prestwick.
READ MORE: Lifeboat marks thirty years of saving lives off the coast of Anstruther
Matt told The National that, after he had survived the ordeal, he decided he needed to do something to thank those who’d saved his life.
With coastguard having attended from Portpatrick, Stranraer, and Ballantrae, Matt decided to walk between the three.
Then though, he “thought the helicopter was pretty well involved with it as well and I didn’t fancy walking all the way up to Prestwick, so I’d cycle the rest of it”.
His efforts, walking from Portpatrick to Turnberry and cycling from there to Prestwick, would raise money for the Coastguard Association, a charity which helps “any serving or retired (by age or medically) Coastguard personnel in times of genuine hardship”.
DONATE TO MATT'S FUNDRAISER HERE
As someone to whom “gym was always just short for James”, Matt didn’t think the challenge would be easy – but it’s that that made it worth doing.
After walking around 20 miles a day for three days through pounding rain, Matt cycled the final 18-mile stretch on Monday in “pure sunshine” alongside his son, Ryan.
Matt Halliday after completing the challenge and arriving at Prestwick
He has already raised 124% of his £1000 target, but is still accepting donations on his Virgin Giving page to “repay the rescuers”.
Having taken a few days off work to recover from completing the challenge, Matt said he’s feeling “a bit sore – it’s still a bit surreal because the past six months that’s been the focus of what I’m going to do and now it’s done. Almost like an anti-climax.”
Asked what challenge was up next, Matt said he’d been asked that a lot, but he needed to let his “sore knees and the blistered feet” recover before thinking of anything like that.
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