Embracing life in the slow lane: Postcard from Ireland and France ☘️🇫🇷

Book news:

My fifth book, The Bad Neighbour, became a number one bestseller in several Amazon categories, which I was extremely pleased about! I hope some of these readers will be interested in the next novel I’m working on with some of the same characters, who I can’t bear to part with just yet.

After months of hard work finishing and helping to publicise The Bad Neighbour, I needed a long break!

This summer I left my city life for some of the remotest parts of Ireland and France. In July I took part in the writing strand of the Achill Island Summer School, an inspiring experience that I won’t forget. I immersed myself in the culture of this tiny remote place, met some wonderful people, swam in the sea, walked among sheep and through gales, and reconnected with my Irish roots – more important to me lately since Brexit and my subsequent Irish passport

In early August I joined my husband in our French Pyrenees house to embrace tranquility and a slower pace of life. (Oddly difficult at first!) I tried to write most days and made inroads into the many books on my Kindle and phone (18 Seconds by Louise Beech, Fatal Trade by Brian Price, The Last Party by Clare Macintosh and a few others) while consuming too much patisserie, bread and cheese, not to mention the local Jurançon and cognac-fortified Floc de Gascogne.

Writing spot (at the table)

On clear nights we would sit in the garden and look at the stars (after midnight best as the street lights are switched off then). One night when I had insomnia, the Milky Way was spectacular – there must have been thousands of stars visible through my binoculars. I was excited to spot a beautiful dark nebula studded with bright stars, so much so that I spent the rest of the night writing a poem inspired by the experience!

The temperature soared for a week which compelled me to go wild swimming in nearby mountain lakes and rivers. The water was bracing to say the least but after a hot, exhausting hike, c’est magnifique

Where I swam – Lac d’Isabe

At the end of August, Mr E, the dog and I headed to the Massif Central. We stayed in Grand-Vabre next to a deep and peaceful valley of oaks and sweet chestnuts, some looking distinctly autumnal after days of 40C heat. No one was around except on market day, it seemed. The only sounds were wasps and rustling leaves in the daytime, and owls and frogs by night.

Popped into the chateau for lunch

On the way back to the Pyrenees we stopped for lunch at a grand chateau in Frayssinet (near the Dordogne) where my husband’s friend was staying with his siblings and their many children and grandchildren. The tour of house (four floors, music room, two grand pianos, a chapel and a horde of other rooms) took an hour. The guests all had two-way radios as the WiFi was patchy and it is an easy place to get lost in (or lose someone – the place would be the perfect setting for a murder mystery).

Storms and mountain hikes

Summer ended in dramatic fashion with one of the spectacular storms I love, with sheer lightning for hours and great rolling roars of thunder. We drove down to San Sebastián for a few days (more swimming this time in the warm Atlantic )

I’m writing this sentence on the slow boat home (from Bilbao to Portsmouth) – a welcome change from the endless toll stops with a hot dog and Aire dashes for wee/water!! 

Wishing you all a fine Autumn ahead and plenty of writing/reading