With a broken collar bone, three broken ribs, punctured lungs and a broken pelvis, Ged didn't think he was going to survive.

Laying at the foot of a 30ft cliff edge, the then 48-year-old strained every muscle to haul his crumpled body up to higher sands in a bid to avoid drowning in the incoming tide.

"I didn't feel the physical pain at first. When I attempted to stand up I heard this visceral scream. But I didn't think it was me," he said.

"It felt like something happening outside my body. It was only when I tried to stand up and I couldn't, I knew it was me."

Ged Dunsmore was visiting Iona for the first time when he fell down the cliffs of Port Ban beach.

Yesterday, the avid walker thanked the air ambulance staff on BBC radio Scotland, telling them "I am really here today thanks to those efforts and dedication. I wasn't meant to die that day."

The avid walker, who is visually impaired and registered blind, said he was trying to find a good place to cross the beach, "the next second I'm falling 30 feet".

Falling in a vertical position at first, he then hit a rock on his way down, before landing on his left side.

"Fortunately I didn't land on my feet, that could have been much worse. But I broke my pelvis, and three ribs and my collarbone. And the ribs actually punctured my lung, so I attributed my breathing to shock.

"I was in a state of confusion to what was actually happening to me."

It was at this point that Ged, who lives in Helensburgh, felt that he had to get about the tide-line to an alcove further up the beach.

"The only way I could do it, was moving on to my knees, and kind of shuffling along sideways on my knees.

"I managed to get to the other side but by the time I did I was absolutely exhausted and very, very cold. It was raining continuously.

"At that point I was resigned to the fact that I was on my own, and had more or less given up."

It was after five hours, and after crawling what he thinks was around 70 metres, he was spied by an American tourist, who at first thought he was a crumpled up backpack. He was then airlifted to hospital

Had he remained were he originally fell, he said he wouldn't have been seen.

"I was with my friend on Iona. She would obviously be concerned about me, it was getting dark.

"I wasn't really thinking about my own preservation. Getting back to my friend was the only thing on my mind," he added.

After the fall, Ged spent two weeks in hospital: first week spent in intensive care and the second in physical therapy in preparation to return home.

Now he has made a full recovery from the fall, which took place in 2014, a week after the independence referendum. "

"It was certainly an interesting time," he said.

"When I talk about it, it doesn't seem like it was me. It seems like someone else. But lots of people have said to me about sharing my story and a positive attitude in recovery. "They say I should write a book about it, so watch this space."