A young woman was left stranded and shivering in a remote part of the Lake District after losing her car keys, forcing her to start a small fire to keep warm as temperatures plunged overnight. Katie Spearpoint's peaceful day of exploring the Cumbria fells descended into a nightmare when the 30-year-old realised she had lost the keys to her vehicle, leaving her stranded.
Katie had visited the fells around Coniston a number of times before and was familiar with the area but she was horrified to discover the pocket of her backpack was open and the keys to her car had vanished after seven hours of exploring, LancsLive reports. Without her car keys, she was faced with being stranded in the middle of the national park with very few provisions to keep her going through the night.
Thankfully, the mother-of-one hadn't locked her car when she left it, so she could crawl into the vehicle and take shelter from the bitterly cold overnight temperatures. As the night got colder, Katie was forced to light a small fire to keep herself warm, with layers of blankets and coats she had wrapped herself up in not helping.
Worried about the scary situation, she called her car company to try and order a new key, which would have cost her £800 and took a week to arrive. She decided she would call for a tow truck to come and collect her - but while she was on the phone to them the next morning, she found out a Good Samaritan had found her lost keys and handed them into the Coniston Tourist Information Centre.
While she had headed back out to look for her keys the next morning after struggling through the night with socks on her hands to keep warm, she found a note saying the key to her Mercedes had been handed in.
Reliving the ordeal, Katie said: "I had spent about seven hours exploring the mountains around Coniston and I was making my way back to the car. I realised my key wasn't in my bag. I knew I'd not locked the car because my fob is broken but I wasn't too worried as I was in a remote place.
"At the time I was pleased as I knew I would be able to at least get inside the car. But I didn't know what I was going to do. It was freezing. I made some calls and it was going to cost me £800 to get a new key but it would take a week to get the key. I was stranded and I didn't know what to do.
"It was freezing, I tried to wrap up in blankets and coats I had in the car but it was so cold I sort of went into survival mode I had to light a fire to try and keep warm it was so cold. I know it wasn't the best thing to do but I didn't know what else to do. My phone was dying, I was hungry and worried."
Katie had socks on her hands trying to keep warm at the time but was becoming increasingly concerned about what was going to happen to her. She was also worried about her young daughter who was being taken care of by her mother back in Lancashire. She said: "If it wasn't for my mum looking after her it would have been even worse."
The following morning she made her way back out to look for the keys when she discovered a note saying that the keys had been handed in. Over the moon, Katie took the plunge and managed to get booked into a hotel until she was able to get to the tourist information centre to collect the keys.
Katie said: "I thought my body was going to give up on me it was hell. I'd had a magical day but it became an intense experience. I really want to find the people who handed my keys in I want to give them a hug and say thank you. I was crying down the phone to the tow company when I found out they had been found.
"I have learnt a lot from this experience especially, how much you need other people. If that person hadn't helped I don't know what I would have done."
Katie, who is a make-up artist, is hoping to find the people who handed in the keys saying I can't offer them much but I want to say thank you, give them a hug and would do their make-up for life.
Do you know the person who found Katie's car key? Email sam.smedley@reachplc.com.
