Explorer Fiennes sleeps in his old Ford Mondeo
AS one of the greatest living explorers, he’s used to roughing it in remote spots.
And it seems the same applies at home for Sir Ranulph Fiennes – who opts to sleep in his old Ford Mondeo while in London rather than pay for a hotel.
Sir Ranulph, who turns 75 on Thursday, said there’s no money in being an explorer and is perfectly happy bedding down in the back of his estate car rather than getting room service and a hot shower.
‘The car is long enough for me to stretch out. It’s not uncomfortable or anything. In London I park in a residential bay between 10pm and 8am,’ he told the Sunday Times Magazine. ‘You save £300 for the nearest hotel or B&B. Normally, I’m parked between Ferraris and Range Rovers. I think they’re all oligarchs and abroad and that’s why there are spare spaces.
‘I’ll tell you that it’s in Queen’s Gate [west London] but I won’t tell you more because it may not be strictly legal.’
Sir Ranulph’s expeditions have left him in debt at various points, including £100,000-worth of bills for his 1979 Transglobe expedition in which he traversed both poles.
The Somerset-based Old Etonian writes and lectures to support his second wife and 13-year-old daughter. ‘As the breadwinner I need to write a book every other year. But with tax and literary agent fees and the often considerable cost of research, it’s not enough,’ he said.
‘ My only regular non- literary income comes from giving lectures. I can just about cope financially between expeditions.’
In contrast, he has raised £18million for Marie Curie, the cancer care charity which helped nurse his first wife Ginny, who died in 2004.
His next adventure will be to walk across the seabed from Robben Island to Cape Town in South Africa, equipped only with breathing apparatus and a sonic device to repel great white sharks.