WALKING up Wales’ highest mountain can be difficult at the best of times – so imagine carrying an eight stone metal dragon on a stretcher up Snowdon at the same time.

Meet Dewi, the fundraising dragon made from mild steel who measures in at three ft high, five ft long and has a wingspan of six ft.

He was built by Chris Lane, a former retained Blaenavon firefighter, who as part of a team of 10 carriers and six support walkers carried the dragon the 1,085m to the top of Wales on Saturday, August 12.

“The weather was absolutely terrible and very challenging but everyone worked really well as a team to get Dewi to the top in a very impressive four hours, which was amazing,” said Mr Lane, 37, who now works as a fabricator.

“Each carrier carried Dewi between five to 15 minutes at a time depending on the terrain, which in some places was very, very steep.”

The group were joined by Mr Lane’s 11-year-old daughter Katie and her friend Gracie, who collected sponsor money from walkers on the route.

Mr Lane added that Dewi is helping to raise money for two separate causes – the Firefighters charity based on his previous work as a retained firefighter and the Welsh Air Ambulance.

Dewi’s next fundraising trip will be taking place at the end of August, when he goes underground with the Gwent Caving Club.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/teams/DewiDdraig and for information, go to facebook.com/dewiddraigadventures/.