A man climbed 140 feet up a Fife rock face to save his girlfriend after the pair became trapped by the incoming tide.
The couple, both in their early 20s, had been on the Elie Chainwalk when their route was cut off by the water.
Neither had a mobile phone and they decided to climb to safety. The woman became stuck 90 feet from the top but the man continued climbing and went to a cottage to raise the alarm.
Just after 6pm on Friday, Aberdeen Coastguard launched the Kinghorn and Anstruther Lifeboats and dispatched Coastguard teams from St Andrews and Leven to rescue the pair, from Leven.
St Andrews Coastguard station officer Craig Tough said it was pitch black by the time they arrived.
He said: “The male accompanied the coastguards to the cliff top and showed them where he had come up. Contact was then made with the female and the coastguards set up their cliff rescue gear whilst the boats illuminated the cliff face for them.
“A cliff technician was then lowered to the casualty and she was recovered to the cliff top.”
Mr Tough said the man did very well to reach the top of the cliff.
He said: “A couple of bits are vertical and it’s very slidey. It’s not an easy piece of terrain at all.”
By the time they got to the frightened woman she was very cold, but neither she nor her boyfriend were the worse for their ordeal.
Mr Tough said: “Both casualties were then taken to an ambulance to be checked over and both were given the all-clear.”
The challenging walk features a series of chains and anchors which are used to scramble a 1.5-mile route round the rocks. It is reckoned the chains were first installed around 1929 to help fishermen.
Over the years numerous people have had to be rescued from the walk, which is a detour from the Fife Coastal Path.
An elderly man died there four years ago after falling around 50 feet.
Photo courtesy of Flickr user robbie_shade.