A champion mountain biker who survived a 40ft cliff fall while filming his latest video is on the slow road to recovery.

Chris Akrigg, who was brought up in Skipton, talked about the accident in which earth gave way beneath his wheels, causing him to fall from Earl Crag, a large gritstone outcrop near Cowling.

The six-times National Bike Trial Champion had been revisiting his favourite mountain biking terrain in Yorkshire when the accident happened.

The 33-year-old said: “I was just using the cliff as a backdrop, because it is a really nice location.

“I was riding on the top ready to do something that was not even that scary or risky – it just happened that it went badly wrong.

“I was getting up some speed and, when I landed, the grass gave way and I went off a rather large cliff.”

The fall sparked a large rescue operation which included paramedics and an 18-strong mountain rescue team.

In a lengthy operation, surgeons at Airedale Hospital in Steeton, inserted a metal rod into the top of his pelvis, with pins holding together the shattered bone in his thigh.

He also suffered tissue damage because of the impact of the fall and still has his leg in plaster.

Mr Akrigg, who rides for the Mongoose Team around the world, said it may take another three months until his bones are healed.

He has now been released from hospital, has had a full plaster on his wrist removed and is walking on crutches.

“It is only three weeks ago since it happened and it is very, very early stages,” he said. “Now it is all about getting movement back as much as possible.”

He added: “I am feeling pretty positive about it. At the end of the day, I’ve got serious injuries but it could have been worse. Hopefully, I will be back soon but I’m not trying to be a hero and get back on straight away.”

James Champion, a spokesman for his management company, said Mr Akrigg planned to use edited footage of the cliff fall as part of a film documenting his rehabilitation and recovery.