Colwyn Bay adventurer Ash Dykes is set to spend another Christmas away from home.

Dykes said he is becoming accustomed to spending the festive season away from family and friends with this set to be his sixth Christmas out of the past 10 where he has not been at home in North Wales.

This year the former Ysgol Bryn Elian student is in China on his latest trek - covering the length of the Yangtze River.

So far he has come across bears, wolves, -20C temperatures and the evacuation of seven out of eight supporting members of his trek.

But now he is at about the the half way point of Mission Yangtze and is enjoying some time away from the harsh terrain of the Chinese River.

He is currently in Dali, working on a number of different projects and motivational speaking sessions via skype before re-starting the second half of his trek in the coming weeks.

Dykes, speaking to the Pioneer, said: "It has been absolutely insane so far. There have been a few difficulties, but there have been a lot of highlights as well.

"Making the first checkpoint because we had so many delays, so many incidents where I was pulled in by the authorities as they feared for my safety, but I did persevere and did get there so that was probably my biggest highlight.

"Even after all that I am still motivated for the next section."

With the festive season due to reach its climax next week, Dykes said he will be in central China in the wild for Christmas but he is hoping to not be alone.

He said: "I will be away from family this Christmas but I been out of town for most Christmas' lately. Six out of the last 10 years, I have been away.

"When I did my Madagascar trek I was in the wild for Christmas and I will be in the wild again this year, but this time in China.

"But I will have a friend with me from Wales, he is hoping to join me on my trek for about three to four weeks."

Dykes said he will be around the Panzhihua area at Christmas time.