It wouldn't be difficult for somebody with TGA to get lost.
And he was obviously never on TV with acute TGA.
And he was obviously never on TV with acute TGA.
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Just to consider this one, nobody in their right mind even thinks about taking a substantial walk in 40C (104F) heat and blazing sunshine, let alone tackling rough terrain and least of all if feeling even a little poorly. And this man was a doctor.
I have just read this thread and this post deserves a decent answer as it raises some good points. I cannot find anyone who has even attempted to answer it. Though other posts by Explorer have been answered, at least in part.
I have just read this thread and this post deserves a decent answer as it raises some good points. I cannot find anyone who has even attempted to answer it. Though other posts by Explorer have been answered, at least in part.
I have just read this thread and this post deserves a decent answer as it raises some good points. I cannot find anyone who has even attempted to answer it. Though other posts by Explorer have been answered, at least in part.
The 67-year-old father-of-four was reported missing after he set off for a walk from Agios Nikolaos beach - near where he was staying on the northeast side of the island - at about 13:30 local time (11:30 BST) on Wednesday.
Dr Bailey Mosley said on Sunday that her family was "taking comfort in the fact" that her husband "so very nearly made it" to safety.
"He did an incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen by the extensive search team," she said in a statement.
I have stayed in Greece on two occasions when the temperature exceeded 45 degrees, and on one of those occasions and in my early forties, I visited the site of Olympia, and was with a group of other tourists being escorted around the archaeology with a local Greek tourist guide. The site is flat but there is very little shade, and after about 20 minutes of walking, I began to feel quite ill. I left the group prematurely and looked for a shop in the town that had air conditioning and lingered a while until I felt better. The best relief was getting on the coach back to the hotel that was ice cold. I can honestly say, that if I had stayed on that site in those conditions much longer, I would have collapsed.
Dr Mosely, is a medical doctor, and he would have known what effect the extreme heat and terrain would have had on him. Another poster on here said he was just going for a walk, but it was always going to be at least around two hours in that searing heat. It wasn't an endurance test, and if the territory was unknown to him and the paths ill marked, then why he took that kind of risk is baffling. As they say, this was a terrible waste of a life for no good reason.
Experienced people do stupid things in their area of expertise all the time. We right now have another thread on the front page, about a top athlete slowing down to celebrate before the finish line, and losing the race they assumed they won.Dr Mosely, is a medical doctor, and he would have known what effect the extreme heat and terrain would have had on him. Another poster on here said he was just going for a walk, but it was always going to be at least around two hours in that searing heat. It wasn't an endurance test, and if the territory was unknown to him and the paths ill marked, then why he took that kind of risk is baffling.
Ah, but who wasted that life, in your hypothesis? You imply that it probably wasn't him, because he must have known better, and you expect him to have made good choices at all times.As they say, this was a terrible waste of a life for no good reason.
Sprinkler,
I was already looking at the map again. It just looks like a series of small errors and misjudgements. I've walked plenty of hills and know how you can end up doubling down on a bad turn thinking it much be just over this crest, okay just over this crest, etc.
Yep, been there, done that. Luckily had a map on my phone and GPS showing me where I was on it.
Speaking of maps, is that how you’ve worked this out, Rolfe? Google Maps?
It certainly shows a lot of information such as ferries that I didn't see mentioned in any news reports.
The obvious explanation is that Rolfe has been there.
The whole TGA thing seems a bit speculative also. People very rarely have more than one experience of TGA, so if he'd had one before, it's not very likely it affected him this time.
Another thing. I don't for a second believe that he had had some sort of "episode" or that he was mentally addled by the heat. He was walking briskly and purposefully at Pedi. Although the Agia Marina CCTV footage has not been released, everything points to him trying his best, rationally, to get to Agia Marina beach, even though he had lost the track. He wasn't wandering aimlessly, he was absolutely on course once he caught sight of the beach compound. At the last he was sensibly trying to follow the fence down to the shore where the entrance was. He just didn't quite make it.
I suppose it's possible he did buy more water in Pedi before he set out for Agia Marina, and the person who sold it to him just doesn't remember. It's hard to see how he made it so far if he didn't.
Sunstroke, dehydration, hyperthermia. Electrolytes probably shot to hell. I don't know if he bought more water in Pedi, but I don't think he could have been carrying enough even if he did.
It's an absolute tragedy. I'm certain that if he hadn't missed that turning he'd have got to Agia Marina OK and recovered, even if he had been a bit frayed round the edges.
Your explanation is quite convincing, but the trouble I have had with all this from day one, is that personally, I would not have risked that length of walk in those conditions, as I know what extreme heat can do if you cannot get to a place of refuge quickly enough to cool down if you get into trouble.
This is probably because I am over cautious, always avoid uncomfortable situations as a consequence, and the fact that I am not athletic anymore, at the age of 78. So your explanation for me in my head, works only if Dr Mosley had an overdose of misplaced bravado.
In fact he got much further than I thought he would, once I realised he must have missed that turning. On Saturday I was opining on Twitter that he had probably succumbed to the heat or had a fall somewhere on the hillside past the place where Google satellite view shows a gap in a rocky ridge which he must have walked through. After that the ground rises steeply - that's the terrible climb his wife referred to. I didn't think he'd make it.
On Sunday, when I heard his body had been found actually at Agia Marina but outside the fence, I thought, what the hell, but I must have been wrong. But then I realised he'd been found on the north side of the beach (where my friend strayed to with her snorkel) whereas the regular path comes in on the south side. Then it was obvious what had happened. He actually managed that difficult climb, saw his destination over to his right, headed for it, and even managed the difficult and steep descent down to the bay. Far more than I thought he'd have been capable of. And expired 40 metres from the entrance. I could cry just thinking about it.
Senior citizen walking in extreme heat and rocky terrain. Color me obtuse, but is this actually not a puzzling Scooby-Doo mystery?
Senior citizen walking in extreme heat and rocky terrain. Color me obtuse, but is this actually not a puzzling Scooby-Doo mystery?
The answer, it turns out is that the route is far shorter than what people were claiming up front. i.e. he never planned on a 2 hour hike into the mountains, but a 0.8 mile walk along an (almost) coastal path. It shouldn't have killed him at all. What killed him was a wrong turn into a 150ft climb and him probably getting stuck in a sunk cost trap of repeatedly thinking he was almost at the top.