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.

Mr Lane added: “After this success, we are now contemplating walking some more routes, possibly, Cadair Idris, and the Skirrid, and are even taking Dewi caving on the bank holiday weekend.

“I figured that this would draw some attention so thought it would be great if we could use this opportunity to raise funds for charity so, with my connection to the fire service and being a keen walker.”

Mr Lane said that prior to the trip to Snowdon, the group practiced with Dewi in Gwent, carrying him up the Blorange and the Sugarloaf as well as Pen-y-Fan.

The team even practiced taking him downhill by taking the dragon into Blaeanvon’s Big Pit mining museum in order to perfect their descend.

Dewi has already been on display in several places across Wales over the past few years, including Blaenavon’s Rhymney Brewery Visitors Centre, The Senedd in Cardiff Bay, the 2016 Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, Builth Wells and for the last year at Mary’s Garden Centre in Ebbw Vale.

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