A WALKER who plunged 100 feet down a Lakeland mountainside - suffering serious head injuries - is making a remarkable recovery.

David Boston, 30, of Escrick, has regained his speech, is getting back on his feet again and will even be an usher at his brother Paul's wedding next month.

Today he paid tribute to mountain rescuers who plucked him by helicopter from the snowy fells, and then battled to stabilise his condition until he reached hospital in Newcastle and could be put on life support equipment.

He also thanked hospital staff in Newcastle and then Leeds who have helped in his long and continuing battle for fitness.

Mr Boston, a foreman at a York conservatory firm, said he could now walk short distances with assistance, but his long-term aim was to once again walk through the countryside.

But he is taking each day as it comes. "I am concentrating on sitting down and standing up at the moment, mainly to get my posture right. They say that if the posture is right, everything else comes naturally."

Karen Woods, senior physiotherapist at Chapel Allerton Hospital's Rehabilitation Unit in Leeds, said: "He is making huge progress in every respect."

David remembers nothing of his fateful walk along a ridge called Sharp Edge on Blencathra near Keswick in January, during which he slipped and fell, ending up lying in a gully.

Although the mountains were snowy, a warden has since told his parents that the snow had melted along the path and he must have slipped on a wet slate.

Fortunately, another walker had a mobile phone and could get a signal, and was immediately able to ring the emergency services.

By another stroke of good fortune, the Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team and an RAF helicopter happened to be taking part in a rescue exercise in the bottom of the valley at the time.

They were scrambled and reached the semi-conscious walker within minutes of the accident, and he was winched into the helicopter strapped in a special stretcher.

His mother, Judy, said that when she and her husband celebrated their ruby wedding in the spring, they had asked friends and relatives not to give them gifts but make a donation to the rescue team instead.

David revealed that he had always wanted to go up in a helicopter, but not quite in the circumstances of January. "I would love to go up in one again one day, when I know what is going on!"

Picture - HELPING HAND: David Boston with his mother, Judith, in Chapel Allerton Hospital, Leeds. David is now walking again, with assistance, after his accident Picture: Steven Bradshaw