A CYCLIST was knocked unconscious after falling off her bike while riding on a country trail this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the Outwood Trail, near Ringley Road West in Radcliffe, after reports that the 67-year-old had been injured.

Firefighters reported that she was taken to hospital with a head injury, but was talking and sitting up by the time they arrived.

A fire service spokesman said: "We were called at 12.03pm and the initial report was that a female cyclist had fallen off her bike and down a ravine.

"Fortunately she was still on the proper track and had only been knocked unconscious momentarily.

"Locating her was the main thing for us and the mountain rescue team because she was about a quarter of a mile away from the main road.

"She was picked up by the mountain rescue team and transported to hospital by the North West Ambulance Service.

"When we arrived, she was talking and sitting up and had actually walked for a distance from where the accident had happened."

Rescuers were initially called to Phillips Park before being diverted to Outwood, where the woman's friends had bandaged her wounds.

A Bolton Mountain Rescue team spokesman added: "We were called out by the North West Ambulance Service at 11:59am to assist in the rescue of an injured mountain biker, who was initially reported to be in the vicinity of Philips Park, Prestwich.

"On our arrival at Philips Park at the same time as resources from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, we were diverted to an alternative rendezvous point at Lower Heaps Farm, Outwood.

"The female casualty was initially reported to have fallen down a slop following a fall from her mountain bike; however on our arrival she was 'walking wounded', albeit with a head injury, some distance down a wooded track.

"The casualty, whose injuries had been bandaged by her friends, was treated by BMRT members (who were on foot), whilst Fire and Rescue service staff used their tools to open a gate into the woodland to allow our vehicle access.

"With a BMRT vehicle and NWAS paramedic on scene, the casualty was driven back up to the road for onward transport to hospital."