Mountain rescue teams helped recover a huge amount of rubbish from a Lake District social media hotspot.
The rubbish was found beneath Priest’s Hole – a popular cave attraction near Glenridding, that recently went viral on TikTok.
It was discovered by MR Map, an automated drone search technology developed by Mountain Rescue, during a search for a missing person.
The Lake District drone team make up part of the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association and is staffed by pilots from across the national park’s mountain rescue teams.
Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team asked the drone team for their help during the missing person search and the Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team drone was sent out for use.
During the search, the drone and pilot were tasked to search the area around Priest’s Hole and while the missing person was not found there and was instead found some distance away – it did detect a large amount of rubbish.
Equipped with a 113 litre sack, two members of the Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue Team decided they would spend time collecting it up.
The drone was able to provide images and locations for each item of rubbish and even more rubbish was found tucked under boulders and stones in the area around the cave.
The team members managed to fill the 113 litre sack and as they couldn’t carry anymore, they had to stop looking for the remaining rubbish.
A second trip was also set up to collect the remaining items.
The teams also thanked Sykeside Camping Park and Brotherswater Inn for allowing them to use their bins.
Love the Lake District? Read more about learning how to leave no trace here.
