Simon Blake

Simon Blake is a chartered chemical engineer who spent far too long between paragliding lesson on the way to his Club Pilot rating. Now Pilot rated, he has produced three books about the sport.

"Prepare to Fly" is a distillation of years of learning from other pilots on the hill and in the pub, and learning from hard experience out in the sky, on the ground and at home when preparing to go flying. It contains all the stuff you need to know that isn't in any of the other books, including a comprehensive list of the other books.

"Flying the Wainwrights" is an account of an objectively ludicrous dedication to the task of flying a glider off, over or onto all 214 summits in Wainwright's Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, a mission he completed between January and September of 2013.

"Speedflying the Lake District" is a site guide for newcomers to the Lake District who may have no paragliding experience and just want to fly DOWN as quickly as possible. It covers in detail over forty launches, including where to park, what you can expect of the walk up and the fly down, and where's best to have a drink afterwards.