WINTER walkers on the Three Lochs Way have been warned to be well prepared for freezing conditions after a woman broke her hip slipping on ice.

The woman was taken to hospital in Paisley after slipping on a patch where water had frozen during a spell of sub-zero temperatures after running over the path.

An ambulance crew, along with police and the Arrochar mountain rescue team, were called to the scene after the woman's companion raised the alarm.

The Way, which runs from Balloch to Inveruglas via Helensburgh, Garelochhead and Arrochar, is popular all year round with walkers completing the 34-mile route in whole or in part.

A statement posted on the Three Lochs Way website said: “The lady was fit and agile but tried to cross from one side of the track to the grass on the upper side and fell heavily. We later found she had broken her hip, being an elderly walker and more vulnerable to such an injury.

“So please be very careful on the icy sections, as recovery can take some time following an emergency call, given the awkwardness of some locations and time it takes to muster the services to a scene.

“You need to remember that in these conditions you should carry extra clothing, a hot drink and possibly a walking pole or long handled ice axe for an extra point of contact.

“Despite having extra clothing and using their day sacks to insulate the fallen walker, she was pretty cold by time she was put onto the MRT stretcher for onward transfer to the ambulance at the Tarbet track end.”

Meanwhile, the Helensburgh and District Access Trust, which manages and maintains the Way, has reminded walkers that forestry harvesting operations will continue at the Bannachra Plantation, on Goukhill Muir between Balloch and Helensburgh, until well into the new year.

Walkers and bikers have been warned that they should expect to encounter large lorries using the forest road and that harvesting equipment will be present in the nearby conifer woods.

In a further statement on the Three Lochs Way website the Trust said: “Please understand that the workers are only interested in your safety and that we would probably not have a route to walk over the hill were it not for the existence of the forest roads in the first place.

“For your own safety you may therefore be asked to wait a little while if operations are likely to compromise your safety on or near the road.

“The harvesting operations over the whole plantation will continue well into 2017 but since arrangements have been made to harvest the higher sections on the hill first this will have less input as time goes on to the shared route section of the Three Lochs Way and the John Muir Way, which at present is in any case diverted onto the Three Lochs Way between Helensburgh and Balloch.”