A HILL walker, rescued after spending 20 hours badly injured on a freezing mountainside with his faithful dog by his side, last night said he thought he was going to die. Jonathon Harrington suffered spine and head injuries when he fell 30ft down a gully on Cadair Idris, near Dolgellau, on Christmas Day, taking his 15-year-oldsheepdog Prince with him. Doctors say he may never walk again. Just 10 minutes before the accident Mr Harrington phoned rescue services from his mobile to say he was lost and needed advice. The agricultural adviser and farmer, partially sighted after an accident when he was 20 months old, carried on walking, only to plunge down the gully. He lay in agony shouting for help with Prince guarding him but was in despair when he thought the rescue was called off. He was finally found by rescuers, alerted by his phone call, on Boxing Day. "I was asking if I could hurry up and die because I was in so much pain," said Mr Harrington.. Today Mr Harrington, from Tregoed, Brecon, is due to be transferred to the spinal unit at Gobowen Hospital, Oswestry. His dog Prince was recovering at a Colwyn Bay vet's where he was taken after his night-time adventure. Speaking from his bed at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, yesterday, Mr Harrington, an experienced walker, admitted: "I am here because of my own stupidity. "I made a mistake. I set off up the mountain too late in the day and didn't give myself enough time to get down in daylight. I lost the path as it started to get dark and I realised I had left my torch in the car. "I have got severe spinal damage and the prognosis isn't good. Prince was taken by the rescue people to the vet's in Colwyn Bay. He wasn't injured but very cold. He was beside me when the rescuers arrived and he growled at them - he was obviously trying to protect me." Thanking his rescuers, Mr Harrington who was found on the 2,850ft mountain above Talyllyn said: "My warning to other walk-ers is you must set off early, and if you can walk with other people the better. Without the layers of clothing I wouldn't have survived. At one point I thought they wouldn't come to look for me because they may have thought I had got off the mountain." The rescue teams included South Snowdonia, volunteer dog handlers plus a helicopter from RAF Valley. | 
