I got a bit lost on a day hike in the Lake District (UK) above Honister Pass for those who know the area, and the climate in early november...
Lost in the clouds, missed the fork to get back to the pass.
The wind set up very quickly, bringing bucketloads of rain, opening the view, so I could understand where I was: on top of a small cliff, above a lot of bad looking scree, then a meadow with various bogs and streams, and soggy sheep, then the pass road, in that deep valley, on my left.
And me condemned to follow a very broken ridge path, no way out. Or try to walk back a loooong way.
This road seemed to be so near, but no ...
So I followed the ridge, for about two hours, the wind so powerful I sometimes had to sit and wait, scrambling on and around slippery rocks, until I get to a "passable" way down.
That means more or less sliding down on my bottom, grabbing whatever hold I could (Damn, I don't like mountains, incl. climbing, and worse, going DOWN!)
Then passing the scree without breaking an ankle, wading in the bogs, crossing two of the streams, dodging the shaggy/unfriendly looking Blackface sheep, scrambling up a stone wall, getting stuck in the barbed wires, at last setting foot on the road. I was soaked to the skin, but the rain gear kept me a bit warm, luckily, as it was not more than 7 or 8°C.
At that point, of course, the little traffic I had spotted on the road vanished, no chance for a lift and I had to walk several km back to a tiny village, to find other soaked and miserable hikers, all escaped from a miserable day, steaming in the heat of a welcome pub. Before more km back to my lodging, in pouring rain.
I know I could have broken something or possibly worse, I was scared a bit but as I'm usually very slow and cautious on this kind of ground, all went well.
Even if the "wet wet wet" moments were not exactly fun...