A police helicopter was involved in the search

Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed the man had answered his mobile phone - after three days being out of signal range.

Brecon Mountain Rescue Team and a police helicopter were involved in the search for the man, who was eventually contacted on Thursday by police on his mobile phone near Machynlleth.

The search was started after a member of the public noticed that the car had been parked in the same spot near Eisteddfa Gurig on the border of Ceredigion and Powys for several days.

Police said the car had been parked in a lay-by about 12 miles from Aberystwyth since at least Monday and a local resident had seen a man walking away from the car carrying a rucksack.

Police traced the man through the VW Jetta car registration that was left at Eisteddfa Gurig.

They then obtained his mobile phone number which they had been calling regularly since Monday.

"The Pumlumon range has very poor mobile phone reception but the man answered his phone earlier today," said a police spokesman.

"He had walked across the range from Eisteddfa Gurig to Machynlleth and was about to start walking back when he answered the phone," said the spokesman.

The man is believed to have taken advantage of the recent good weather to go trekking across Pumlumon.