This will be my last post for a while. Mrs Wenlock is driving me into the mountain fastnesses of Wales today, and leaving me in a remote cottage with no access to telephone, television or the interweb thingy so that I can have a week of solitude in which to write a good chunk of my new novel, an as yet untitled sequel to Lord Alexander's Cipher; or, the Bridekirk Behemoth. As I have said in a previous post, this will have an Arthurian theme of sorts, although it takes place in 1814.My cottage was chosen for its remoteness - it is a good few miles from the nearest pub, for instance - but it turns out that the nearest town, Llangollen, claims Arthurian connections for itself. Indeed the hill in the picture below is called Craig Arthur,
and nearby is Croes Gwenhwyfar, said to be the only place in Britain named after Guinevere. I should add that the earliest record of the name is from 1690, and was recorded by Edward Lhuyd, the inventor of Celticism, so it probably does not stand much scrutiny.Sarah was in Llangollen quite recently, and one of the comments on her post reminds me that it is not far from where the action of some of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence takes place. I have nearly finished reading the last of the series to the Wenlock heir at bedtime.
Look for me to post again next Sunday.
4 comments:
do have a nice holiday....wales is a lovely place
Hope you had a fruitful time in the cottage. You couldn't ask for a more inspiring setting - and no electronic distractions to boot. Look forward to hearing how you got on!
I read Over Sea, Under Stone only a year or two ago. If it had been written a few years earlier than it was I wouldn't have missed the magic of reading it, or having it read to me, as a child.
I need you to clear up a couple of things, Stephen. You have an image to maintain.
1 When I read about plans in the Lake District, I was reminded of Mr. Myebug in Cold Comfort Farm. Did you wear a cape? Did you hike around in the rain? Who wrote Jane Eyre?
2. Over at Doug's you said something about Red Bull first thing in the morning? No, no, no. You drink tea poured from a silver pot into a porcelain teacup. Not a mug, unless you are roughing it. You put in the milk first. Right? RIGHT?
I did hike around in the rain, but I was not dressed in real Mybug style (although I have always seen much sense in his literary theories).
But tea in the mornings? I think not. They don't call it afternoon tea for nothing. My normal breakfast drink (on non-Champagne occasions) is black coffee: freshly made from freshly ground beans, and sufficiently strong to do the job.
Sometimes I drink it from this mug.
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