my glamorous writing life

patsy

1001 nights

We’ve slept our thousandth and first night in the ‘mobile writing retreat’ along the Ayrshire coast. Those nights have been spent in England, Scotland (and many Scottish islands) Wales, both northern and souther Ireland, and France.

I’ve not kept a record of precisely what has been written in the van, as opposed to home. It’s probably not over 1,000 individual stories, but the figure will be in the hundreds. Large parts of some of my novels were also written in the van, usually parked up in the location that part of the story was set. When Arnold from my Little Mallow series went to France, I of course went too, just in case he forgot any of the important details!

Of course I don’t just write, there’s also lots of exploring and photography – which in turn inspired my romance Leave Nothing But Footprints, which involves two photographers and a campervan.

Here’s a selection of images taken on our trips. 

patsy

Still on our travels

We’ve reached Scotland! Actually we’ve been here a while, but not as long as you’d expect considering when we left home – but then we did stop off at quite a few places in England and do a detour through Wales on the way.

Here I am not in any of those countries. I’m way up in the air on the Chirk aqueduct. Behind me is a sign saying welcome to England, and ahead is one saying welcome to Wales (and croseo i Gymru too, of course) but where I’m standing is neither. Are there other places in the world which aren’t technically in any country?

Btw, I’ve just sent out my latest newsletter, so if you’re subscribed you should have received that, with more of my travel photos, plus a chance to win a free ebook. If you’re not on the list and would like to be, you can sign up here.


	




			
				


			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Rainbow (and me) on the Radio
	


	

		

I’ll be on Soundart Radio on Monday morning (10 – 12), talking to my friend Anne Rainbow about different aspects of writing including my cosy mystery series, travel, and probably other things too. There will also be a selection of songs which we like and feel tie in with my work, or our lives and writing in general.





Anne has a Facebook group associated with her show. If you’d like to join that you can post questions for her to ask me live on air (eeek!) You can find out about her other shows there. Her guests include artists of all descriptions.

The photo is of us when we ran a residential workshop together a *few* years ago.






	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Bishop’s Palace
	


	

		

The bishop in Kirkwall would have had a longer commute to work than I do, but not by much. You can see St Magnus Cathedral from his palace, and vice versa. Even I wouldn’t have needed a cup of tea on arrival if I’d had one just before leaving home – although I’m fairly sure tea wasn’t an option back then.










We’re very much enjoying Orkney. As far as we can see there are only two downsides – the wind (cold and doesn’t let up much) and the lack of an LPG filling pump. The van needs gas for heating, hot water, the fridge, cooking and, most vital of all, the kettle! It’s OK though as we have a cunning plan.





Some of the positives of Orkney include the beauty and drama of the landscape, very friendly people, loads of historic sites to visit, great campervan facilities and wonderful park ups, lots of wildlife especially birds, plenty of bakeries and tea rooms, great walks, a decent number of ships for Gary to photograph, loads of wild flowers… It’s amazing I’ve found time to write, but that short commute to work helps and I’m making progress with the novel.

	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Broch of Borwick
	


	

		

Yesnaby was so beautiful, there was more to explore, and the weather forecast for the next day was good, so we stayed where we were. I did a little writing before cooking our dinner. The following morning, after a pot of tea and writing a few more words as Gary sorted out the camera stuff, we headed for the Broch of Borwick.










There were many distractions on the route, including Northern Marsh Orchids and another sea stack. This time it was my turn to cling to a cliff edge for the benefit of a photo. OK, so there was a path down to almost sea level and the bit I had to negotiate was only a few feet above that, but you have to remember I’m not at all brave!





After visiting the broch we walked on to Skara Brae – but decided to visit that another day, as although the walk to that point was only a couple of miles we’d taken a long time doing it, and had eaten nothing and only drunk the one pot of tea before leaving the van three hours earlier.

	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Comet and Watch Stones
	


	

		

Both the Comet and Watch stone are located between the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness. It looks as though all the stones are part of the same extended monument, but apparently they were erected over a period of over 1,000 years. 





The Comet (shown first) is relatively small – not even my height. The Watch stone is massive!










I like the fact that, although quite a lot is known about these stones and credible theories have been proposed, nobody knows for certain precisely why they were built, or how they were used.





The weather was a bit blurgh when we arrived, stayed that way as we drank a pot of tea and ate Empire biscuits and fruit slices respectively, and stayed that way after we’d had a good look and another tea break, so we plan to go back again later. It would be great to get sunset or sunrise photos, wouldn’t it?

	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Very old and quite new
	


	

		

We visited the Grain Earth House in Kirkwall, which turned out to be a mini adventure. First we had to collect the keys and find the place – not too difficult, even though it’s surrounded by an industrial estate. Then we had to open the gate and door, which wasn’t easy. Then we had to climb down some steps, which looked relatively modern, but might not have been. It’s hard to tell with solid stone. They lead to the underground tunnel or passageway, which was partly dug out of the earth, but the floor and lower part of the walls were cut into solid rock.


































Next we had to do a weird crouching shuffle along the low and narrow passageway. It’s a jolly good thing we’ve been doing a lot of walking as well as cake eating recently! It was also a good thing the person who provided the keys warned us we’d need a torch, as it’s completely dark as soon as you turn the first corner. Once inside the chamber we could stand up. We’re not tall and only had an inch or so of clearance.





The souterrain was created around 2,800 years ago, making it very old. I made a mini youtube film of the experience – something I’m very new too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKiALFtapfY

	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Yesnaby – and the ‘castle.’
	


	

		

We arrived at Yesnaby in the evening. The light was good, so we set out on a walk without even stopping for a cup of tea! (We’re getting plenty of sunshine and good photographic light, but the weather is very changeable, so we grab every opportunity we get.)










Yesnaby has a sea stack which, with an imagination as active as mine, does look something like a castle with a drawbridge. I’m not sure if that one has a name, but there’s another very close by which is called the castle – and looks nothing like one!





Gary did his taking a photograph whilst perilously close to a cliff edge thing, and I attempted to find the rare wildflower Primula Scotica. I think I did, but as it wasn’t yet in flower it’s difficult to be certain, so I’ll keep looking.





After that we went back to the van for a restorative pot of tea as we planned what to do next.

	




			
				


	
	

		

			 patsy 		


		
Wednesday word of the week – Orcadian
	


	

		
An Orcadian is a native or inhabitant of the Orkney Islands. This beautiful place is where Gary and I will be living (in the mobile writing retreat aka photographic base aka campervan) which I hope qualifies us as temporary Orcadians. While we’re here, we plan to see many of the sights, eat the local food, and learn something of the history and culture. So far we’ve met some lovely people, visited several fascinating places and discovered Orkney sunshine frequently comes in liquid form!


We’re not complaining about the weather btw. We had an idea what it would be like and came prepared, the wind and rain are part of what makes the place so spectacular and beautiful, plus the breaks in the sunshine encourage us to get on with some work.