THE wife of a walker who died after he fell while climbing England's highest mountain has spoken of her heartbreak at his tragic death.
She desperately tried to telephone him when he failed to return from his climbing trip and later endured the agony of waiting for news of him while rescue teams tried to find him.
Malcolm Blowman, 67, of Little Carlton, near Louth, had set out alone to climb the famous Scafell Pike in the Lake District.
His wife, who was with him for a caravan holiday, raised the alarm after he failed to return. His body was eventually found after a major search operation.
She had not wanted him to go out climbing because, in an ironic twist, she remembered a previous scare many years earlier when he was several hours late back from a climb in Scotland.
Marion Blowman, who was married to Malcolm for 43 years, said: "My dear husband decided he would climb Scafell Pike. He liked to give himself a challenge. He seemed to be drawn to the mountains every so often. We stayed at Bassenthwaite, near Keswick, in a touring caravan."
Mr Blowman set off on his walk at 8.45am on Wednesday.
His wife, 67, said: "I first phoned him at about midday to see how he was getting on but his phone went straight to voice mail. I wasn't unduly concerned because I thought there would be no signal.
"I phoned him every hour and started to get really worried. I thought something may have happened. At about 7pm, I thought: 'It will start getting dark'. I phoned the police.
"They got in touch with the mountain rescue people. The police and the mountain rescue people were wonderful. They kept me informed and were quite concerned about me as well."
About 20 rescue workers and dogs went up on to the mountain and thermal imaging cameras were used. An overnight RAF search and rescue team was called in.
"They found him at about 11am," said Mrs Blowman. "He had fallen 200ft in a gully. The mountain rescue people did go down to him.
"They knew it was him because he had his wallet with him. It was too dangerous for them to get him out. They used a Sea King helicopter to winch him out.
"That was ironic because he had been a helicopter pilot himself. He loved flying. It was helicopters to the last."
Mr Blowman was born in Bridlington and lived in Driffield, East Yorkshire, before training at the Army apprentice school in Harrogate. He joined the Army in December 1962, becoming part of the Royal Signals.
He learned to fly while in the Army and took part in shooting competitions. He became a top shooter, including being one of the Army Eight. He won the Whitehead Cup for shooting.
One of his proudest moments was when he won the Methuen Cup for shooting.
Mr Blowman had lived at Little Carlton since March 1975.
He worked as a pilot for Bond Helicopters at Strubby, near Alford, and was later a helicopter pilot for Schreiner Airways. He was based in Cameroon for about six years and later worked self-employed with his wife for their company, Carlton Flying Ltd.
Mr Blowman had two children, Richard, 42, and Catherine, 39.
He loved crosswords and one was in his rucksack when his body was found. He joined the Louth group of the University Of The Third Age and was leader of its aviation group.
Mr Blowman was on Great and Little Carlton Parish Council for years. He helped set up a neighbourhood watch scheme in Little Carlton and was a member of Mensa.
He had been membership secretary of the Carltons social club. Mr Blowman enjoyed giving to charity and helping to set questions for quiz sessions.
Catherine said: "He showed us right from wrong. He had always been committed to my mum. He was a good dad and a good husband."
