I was born in Westminster in 1961 and lived the formative years of my life in North London. Thankfully I chose to support Chelsea, rather than a North London team from as early age!
I now live in Gerrards Cross with my lovely wife, of 35 years, Helen and plan to move to Cornwall sometime in the next year now that our children have all left home – our 2 daughters in British Columbia (Vancouver & Vernon) and our son in Sydney. Very nice places to visit!
I have a keen interest in mountaineering that only started late in life – this was sparked off by the climb of Kilimanjaro that I did with my son Matthew. Since then we have done multiple climbs in Wales (summer) and Scotland (winter) plus trips to Mont Blanc, Mount Rainier, Toubkal, Elbrus, Aconcagua with a Himalayas trip planned for late 2023 (hopefully Mera, Island Peak and Lobouche in one visit).
I also have a keen interest in long distance walking – have done multiple 100km challenges over the years, highlights being John O’Groats to Land’s End in September 2020 and Land’s End to John O’Groats in September 2021 with my good friend Paul Turrell. Our next adventure is El Camino de Frances in May 2023.
Being able to spend so much time down in Cornwall is great for training as the South West Coast Path has many climbs & descents not to mention the fantastic views and fresh sea air.
I have transcribed the blog from our John O’Groats to Land’s End adventure into a book that can be purchased from Amazon –
https://www.amazon.co.uk/John-OGroats-Lands-Simon-Fanning
At some stage in 2023 I will finish transcribing the Land’s End to John O’Groats into a book and also find time to publish my accounts of El Camino and climbing in the Himalayas