A Bradford mountain climber who lay in a coma for more than a year following a horrific fall has returned to the scene of the accident to thank his rescuers.

It was a little over three years ago when Titch Kavanagh, now 44, plummeted 100 feet from a Welsh mountainside.

He was made blind when he smashed his forehead on impact and broke his nose, checks and his hip.

Sight has partially returned to one eye but he needs a white stick to get around.

His hip is bolted together in six places and he may need a replacement.

His skull and forehead have been rebuilt and one leg is shorter than the other.

But Titch got on a train at the weekend to travel 150 miles to meet the man who instigated his rescue.

Snowdonia National Park ranger David Williams was observing an instructor as he led a team of climbers up Cadair Idris, not far from where Mr Kavanagh was leading two friends up the peak.

Looking through his binoculars he saw the veteran Bradford mountaineer fall through the air. He called mountain rescue who airlifted the prone climber to hospital.

It was a touching first meeting between the pair in Wales over the bank holiday weekend.

Mr Kavanagh said: "To meet him, it was like going home. I gave him a big hug and thanked him and he took it really well, he was as happy as I was."

In the years before the accident Titch conquered Himalayan mountains in India but only now can he piece together what happened in Snowdonia.

"I have no memory at all of the day," he said. "I've only got what two friends tell me.

"I was leading at the front of three of us. I had climbed up to the top fairly well and for some reason, we don't know why, I fell off and landed on my head.

"I look like a DIY shop on my X-ray.

"David just happened to be nearby and within 20 to 30 minutes of him making the call a helicopter was lifting me out."

While back in Wales, he took the chance to experience climbing for the first time since the accident.

He said: "Two friends took me uphill to a crag up Holyhead Mountain and I climbed 10 to 15 metres.

"I was laughing and crying with joy.

"I had to grab hold of my trousers and move my feet until I found what felt like a foothold."

For Mr Kavanagh, the meeting with his the mountain ranger was an opportunity draw the line under what happened on that day in 2004.

"We sat down and had a coffee and talked about a mountain club we both knew," he said.

"I showed him photographs that we had taken on the day of my accident.

"I can understand my injuries better now. It ends the circle for me."