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Episode Three: Flora Tristan, and Join Us for the Travel Writing Retreat, 3–6 May 2027
Stephen Powell and I have just finished recording Episode Three of Women Travel Writers, sitting outside under the bougainvillea at Monte Agudo, the same hillside near Tavira where we host our writing retreat. This time the subject is Flora Tristan (1803–1844), and she may be the most unlikely travel writer in the whole series, because she never set out to become one at all. Flora Tristan was born in Paris in 1803, to a French mother and a Peruvian-born father whose marriage was never recognised under French law. When her father died suddenly in 1807, she was left, in the eyes of the state at least, illegitimate and without any claim on…
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A Sunday Market with a Vision: The Barrocais Protected Landscape
There’s something wonderful about an ordinary Sunday market turning into the setting for something much bigger. That’s exactly what happened this morning in Santa Catarina, where the monthly market played host to the public presentation of the proposed Barrocais Protected Landscape. Under a white marquee, with market stalls carrying on around us, I ran into old friends Rob and Rosie Peddle, there representing MGAP (the Mediterranean Garden Association Algarve), one of the partners supporting the initiative. It’s always a pleasure bumping into them. They have done so much with their association and now they turn out to be part of something very worthwhile. Alongside them were representatives from Tavira Câmara…
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Blue Eyes and the Stones Coming 6 October 2026
Exciting News! My latest book, Blue Eyes and the Stones, will be available on 6 October. I walked alongside this grumpy cat for 15 years. We loved and annoyed each other, and for nine of those years, I wrote stories from her point of view. In the book, Blue Eyes is a Balinese-spirited cat leading a double life: the cat who visits Lucy’s door for food, and also Bastet, who listens to the plant devas and remembers the old legends her mother told her. It’s set on a hill near Tavira, Monte Agudo in fact, where olive groves meet thirsty new orange farms and water is running out. Blue Eyes…
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Women Travel Writers: Two Episodes complete, and the Road Ahead to Spring 2027
My neighbour, the travel writer Stephen Powell, and I started this series with a simple question, what did it take for a woman to travel, alone, and write about it, in centuries that gave her almost no permission to do either? Two episodes are now complete and the answer is turning out to be different every time. Two women, living nearly 80 years apart, travelling for entirely different reasons, and writing books that still need to be read. In May 2026, we facilitated a Travel Writing Retreat at our homes in the Algarve. For a few years I have offered writers the opportunity to meet and learn together in a…
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Pollinating the Dragon Fruit
It’s August on the hill and I wake early to water the few surviving tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. The lettuce has collapsed in the heat and the cucumber leaves have turned to crisp, paper-thin yellowy-brown. This morning though, 3 August 2026, I want to note the date, there are five showy white dragon fruit flowers, yellow-stamened and still open, ready for hand pollination. I follow the method used by an American grower who reckons it’s best to pollinate them at night. We used to have bats flying around and I’d leave it to them, with mixed results, but now I hand-pollinate. This involves taking a small artist’s paintbrush, searching around…
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The Artistic Legacy of Gorodets: Carved Stories and Women’s Voices
When I look at a wooden, hand-carved plaque in my home, I think of Gorodets, Russia. I wonder how this handmade object could preserve hope across decades of political change. In the ’90s and the early ’00s, I worked on the community use of technology to foster cohesion across people and networks. I spoke in Moscow’s House of Soviets, sometimes informally translated as the White House about the possibilities the internet might bring to all nations. Back then, the hope for democracy was strong among the people I met in Russia. I often wonder how they are doing. My sense is that some are probably distraught, having to send sons…
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Following the Trust Frequency: Andrew Cameron Bailey and Connie Baxter Marlow Visit Tavira
During their June 2026 journey through Portugal, authors, filmmakers, futurists, and consciousness pioneers Andrew Cameron Bailey and Connie Baxter Marlow visited Tavira, bringing with them a philosophy that centres trust as the foundation of a new paradigm for humanity. I interviewed them at my home, on Monte Agudo, near Tavira, in the eastern Algarve. The couple shared their experiences of Portugal, the philosophy behind their acclaimed book The Trust Frequency, and Andrew’s forthcoming work, HoloSapiens: Conscious Evolution in Action. Andrew is a tall, grounded guy who exudes enthusiasm about life and adventure. Connie has warm, deep, watchful eyes and is clearly a guiding force. She was born in Maine, USA,…
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Sister Lucy Kurien: From Tragedy to Transformation
In June 2026, Sister Lucy Kurien, founder of the Maher Ashram in India, travelled to Tavira, Portugal, to attend a Gender Reconciliation retreat titled The Body of Joy. The 4-day retreat organised by Will Keepin and Cynthia Brix attracted attendees from Africa, the USA, Portugal and Canada. Living close by, I joined the retreat and spent some time with Sister Lucy. She is a warm-hearted, bubbly, inspiring woman with kind eyes. Her hugs are firm, feel genuine, and are restorative. As we talked, she reflected on more than three decades of resilient service and on the continuing challenge of supporting women and children affected by violence, abuse and abandonment. “My…
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Ireland – May 2026 – Hill of Uisneach – Bealtaine Festival
My birthday present in May 2026 was a visit to my father’s ancestral home in Westmeath, Ireland, timed for the fire festival on the Hill of Uisneach. After a tough year, Jim’s cancer treatments weighed heavily. We questioned whether we could climb the hill together, but hoped the journey would restore us. Locals claim the Bealtaine fire festival on this hill is the oldest in Ireland. Fires are ignited on sacred hills, creating a single “fire eye” over the island, symbolising the country’s emergence from the cold darkness of winter into the light. On Bealtaine eve, every household fire across Ireland was extinguished, and people waited in the dark for…
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Why attend a travel writing retreat?
Retreats do several things very well. First, they give us permission to be slow. Instead of stealing an hour between jobs and appointments, we are allotted tidy blocks of time to try, sometimes fail, and try again. That’s when the odd, stubborn, creative sentences arrive. The ones we couldn’t have written if we were rushed. Second, being in a place that asks us to look, really look, sharpens our senses. We notice the small shop windows with jars of salted lemons and crocheted blue booties, the fishermen mending their nets in conversation with their sons, the women donning aprons and straw hats as they hang out washing in the bright…
