Marine Mammal Medics raise £600 for BDMLR by hiking 60 miles in 60 hours.
On Thursday, 15 May, Marine Mammal Medics Joe Wilkins and Maddy De Marchis set off to hike 60 miles in 60 hours along the Ceredigion Coast Path, in aid of marine conservation. The pair were raising funds for British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (CBMWC), so far raising £1200 in total for the two charities.
They set off from Cardigan, the southern end of the Wales Coast Path’s Ceredigion section, at 6am on Thursday 15, with many miles lying ahead. At 5pm on Saturday 17, with one hour to spare in the challenge and very tired legs, they made it to the sand dunes of Ynyslas, their finish line.
Joe said ‘We were incredibly lucky with the weather – when planning the challenge, I expected us to have a downpour at some point in classic West Wales style, but in reality, one of our biggest challenges was keeping protected from the glorious sun which shone all three days!’
Even for lovers of outdoors adventures, this challenge was not easy – with varied and difficult terrain along most of the route, and total elevation gain of almost 3000m.
Looking back over the challenge, Maddy said: ‘We’ve walked over it all: steep climbs, rocky beaches, dramatic cliffs, sand dunes, farmland, rivers, sharp descents – it really hit home how beautiful and diverse Ceredigion’s coastal landscapes are! A highlight for me was the range of wildlife we saw during the walk, beautiful seabirds like fulmars and gannets, colourful coastal wildflowers, whimbrel and other wading birds, grey seals, butterflies, and of course our favourites, bottlenose dolphins!’
‘Seeing this beautiful marine wildlife, especially the marine mammals that we love so much, reminded us why we were doing the challenge. We want to help BDMLR to carry out its important work helping marine animals in distress, and allow more volunteer medics to have the equipment they need to help seals and cetaceans around our coastlines’.
Joe, an ecologist and nature campaigner from Aberystwyth said, ‘Having grown up on the coast of Cardigan Bay, this coastline and its incredible wildlife have always had a special place in my heart, so I’m really excited to be doing something to help play my part in its protection. Both CBMWC and BDMLR carry out critical work and are organisations we are closely involved with, so it was very important for us to do something to support them.’
The pair more than doubled their fundraising target of £500 by raising a total of £1200, which is divided equally between Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre and British Divers Marine Life Rescue.
Their fundraiser is still open for donations. If you’d like to support their efforts, please donate to their GiveWheel page.
