A MAN and three young children had to be led to safety by rescuers after a family walk on Pendle Hill turned into a nightmare.

An RAF search helicopter was called in after mist and low cloud reduced visibility to five yards and left Anthony Almond and stepdaughter Helen, seven, and grandsons Marlon, three, and Cailem, two, lost and stranded yesterday afternoon.

They had gone on to Pendle to plant a flag made by the children.

Anthony's partner Antoinette said they set off at 2pm and although they had a mobile phone with them they could not get through to anyone to raise the alarm.

Their position was later pin pointed by One-2-One using a satellite signal.

Anthony, who is disabled following a motor cycle accident 24 years ago, was still in bed recovering from yesterday;s ordeal today.

Antoinette said: "When they were on the hill it suddenly became misty and he tried to get down by using his hands to try to follow the path.

"When he came to a fork in the paths he took the wrong one."

After several hours Douglas began to bark and three-quarters of an hour later the frightened, cold and wet group was found and taken off the hill by ambulance.

Antoinette said: "After failing to contact them by phone a friend took us to Barley and we found the car. After asking at a local farm if they had seen them we raised the alarm."

She added: "We are just thankful they are back home. We would like to give a big thank you to everyone who helped."

The alarm was raised after the family and their white Staffordshire bull terrier Douglas failed to return home at 6.15pm, several hours after setting off from their home on Bradley Hall Road, Nelson.

Mr Almond also contacted police on his mobile phone but the battery failed before he could tell them exactly where he was.

As darkness fell and concerns for the family's safety grew the Sea King search and rescue helicopter was called out from the RAF base at Kinloss in Scotland.

Mr Almond and the children were eventually found shivering and sheltering from the cold by a police search dog at 10pm. The dog handler stayed with the family for 40 minutes and began walking them to safety after he failed to contact rescuers on his radio. They were led to ambulances and taken to Burnley General hospital for check-ups before being allowed home.

The search for the family was carried out by police and the Rossendale fell rescue team in the area around Barley Village.

The family was found at the top end of Ogden Clough, near Barley village.

Dave Barrington, team leader from Rossendale search and rescue, said: "Our first concern was to get the family to hospital to make sure they were all OK.

"We can only presume that because conditions were pretty poor they became disorientated and went to ground.

"Staying where they were was the right thing to do if they didn't know where they were so they acted pretty sensibly."

Police were due to talk to the family today to find out exactly what happened.