A WREXHAM finance firm boss has raised more than £3,500 after taking part in a marathon Montenegro mountain charity challenge.
Medwyn Edwards, Joint Founding Director of Hadlow Edwards Wealth Management, completed the three-day, three-peak, 40-mile coastal challenge along the Dinaric Alps in Montenegro despite treacherous, torrential rain.
It was his second trip to one of the world’s smallest countries which borders Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. Well known for its spectacular coastline, half of Montenegro is covered in thick forest which is home to wolves, bears, lynxes and wildcats.
Medwyn was part of a 70-strong group taking part and raising money for the St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of wealth management organisation St. James’s Place.
Medwyn set up his firm with fellow founding director Warren Hadlow in 2000 and last year, they expanded into the former Wrexham Lager building in the heart of the town which is now home to their 25-strong team.
The firm is a representative of St. James’s Place Wealth Management and Medwyn has taken part in charity challenges they have organised before including treks through the Picos De Europa in Northern Spain, the Julian Alps in Slovenia and Mount Olympus in Greece.
Events and challenges are held every year to help raise money for the Charitable Foundation set up in 1992 to award grants to charities registered in the UK, with more than £80 million raised to date.
Causes supported include Support Dogs, a national charity which trains and supports dogs to help people with a range of disabilities including autism and epilepsy, AfriKids which is London-based charity which works to improve the lives of Ghana’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and Worldwide Volunteering which helps disadvantaged young people through volunteering opportunities.
In total, the latest trek has raised £127,000 which will be doubled by St. James’s Place.
Medwyn, 57, a father-of-two who lives in Wrexham and is originally from Anglesey, said: “The weather was absolutely awful which we were not expecting. It rained solidly for about 30 hours from the Saturday morning we were there until the Sunday lunchtime.
“It did make the trek quite hard-going at times. Much of the paths we were following were quite overgrown with vegetation and at one point, we were going up quite a steep mountain where we had to cross over a river, which I think ordinarily was a stream but given the weather was more like a raging torrent. That felt a bit dangerous but in the end it was all part of the adventure.
“Even though we had decent waterproofs, we all ended up soaking wet in the end, particularly our boots which despite our best efforts, were still pretty soggy to put on again the next day.
“At times, it was so misty that it was difficult to take in much of the scenery but once the skies cleared a bit, the views were incredible and one of my abiding memories of the trip will be the spectacular scenery.”
The trek took Medwyn up the Ladder of Cattero.
The hiking route follows an old horse trail with more than 70 U-turns as the walkers make their way up the steep mountainside.
