A WOMAN who slipped and injured her leg while walking the coast path between Watchet and Blue Anchor was rescued by coastguards - thanks to their local knowledge and 21st century technology.

Lia Moutselou had been walking for just over half an hour after leaving Watchet on Monday afternoon when she lost her footing.

But fortunately she was carrying a TomTom portable navigation system and her mobile phone.

The 31-year-old, originally from Greece, has lived in the UK for the past 11 years and was staying with retired teachers Melanie and Alan Woollam in Williton.

The couple were working in what will soon be Watchet's new community bookshop on The Esplanade when they received a call from Lia, the long-term partner of their son Tom who died almost two years ago from cystic fibrosis.

"She thought she had broken her leg," Melanie told the Free Press.

"But using the GPS system and knowing the footpath ourselves, we were able to work out roughly where she was.

"However, we also knew that we would need a 4x4 to reach her as the road is nowhere near the coast path."

Watchet's coastguard team was called into action and local officer Mike Champion quickly made contact with Lia by phone.

Fellow coastguard officer Simon Bale said Mike managed to identify the exact remote spot where Lia had fallen based on his local knowledge and training through her description of what she could see.

The team drove across fields to reach her and with the help of Dr Shirley Gover, who is also a coastguard, administered first aid before transferring her to a waiting ambulance at Warren Bay.

Lia was taken to Minehead Hospital and later to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital where an x-ray showed there were no broken bones, only a severely sprained ankle that left her unable to stand or walk.

But the injury meant she was unable to return home immediately to Cardiff where she has just started a new job as policy manager for Wales for the Consumer Council for Water.

"It's very frustrating as I only started the job a month ago," she said.

"It was a silly accident and I must have just been daydreaming.

"But I am so grateful to the coastguards who do a very good job."

Lia, described by the coastguards as an experienced hill walker, was said to have done exactly the right thing when she fell.

"This incident was a pure accident whereby she slipped on the muddy path and landed badly on her leg," said Simon.

"She did the right thing to contact someone for help prior to nightfall and the cold weather setting in and making her condition worse.

"We recommend anyone walking the coast path to go prepared for the conditions, to have a mobile phone and to always tell someone where they are going and what time they are returning."