Living by the seaside: A writer’s diary 3

Best-selling author and actress Kate Thompson tries solitary seaside living in the interests of writing. Would it work? Read Kate’s column over the next few weeks on the Country channel

Beyond the main street to the north of Roundstone village are twelve spectacular purple mountains that look like clones of the one on the Paramount Pictures logo. To the south a dramatic escarpment tumbles down from a blue-washed sky to meet beaches of powdery coral-coloured sand, where waves lap like kittens on some days and rage like tigers on others. On the right hand side of the sleepy main street fishing boats bob prettily in a picturesque harbour, while on the left, terraces of nineteenth century houses - the kind that epitomise the estate agent cliché ‘oozing with character' - preen and pose for the benefit of tourist cameras.

 

Boats and houses, mountains and seascape - all could have been designed by a deity in a particularly benevolent mood, or by whoever was responsible for The Truman Show. I sometimes feel that if I took a boat too far out to sea, I'd surely go crashing splat! into a painted heaven. It's a privilege to work here - in the winter months anyway. I understand that in the summer they have to erect traffic lights on the main street to cope with the volume of visitors.

 

Human beings rarely venture into the view from my window here. Occasionally I'll see a distant car traverse the island opposite. On one occasion, when I realised that I had seen no sign of human activity during the course of an entire day, I had to phone someone in Dublin to make sure that the world hadn't ended.  

 

Sometimes I skive off work. On a day too perfect to spend sitting in front of a computer I might take myself off to walk a beach or climb a hill. The kind of beauty you encounter on a daily basis in Connemara is so gob-smacking that it sometimes makes you laugh out loud. My husband Malcolm and I drove through the Inagh Valley on a blue-sky day so still that the lake was a mirror in which the mountains could admire themselves in all their tumbled, upside-down glory. The song of a robin in the morning or a blackbird at dusk can, literally, stop me in my tracks. Watching waves the size of houses pounding the rocks on Gurteen point is 10 times more thrilling than a rollercoaster ride. On other days the sea is so calm that it sings you an irresistible siren song, seducing you in. The last time I took a spontaneous skinny dip, I had a close encounter with a seal who kept surfacing to check out the alien intruding on his environment.  

 

Even the Connemara place names have a romantic resonance that make them a pleasure to pronounce. Try chanting them. Beaghcauneen. Bunnaviscaun. Cappaghoosh. Carraroe. Cloghaunard. Cloonlooaun. Couravoughil. Cushatrower. Derreenagusfoor. Gorteenaglogh. Inishlacken. Loughaconeera. Maladrolaun. Rusheenacholla. Pollacappul. Scrahallia. Shanaunafeola. Tonadooravaun. Ungwee.  

 

The perfect end to a perfect day spent skiving off work in Connemara? Have dinner by the window in Ballynahinch Castle some evening when the river is in spate, and you'll wonder if you could ever be happier.

 

Read part four of Kate's column on Solitary Seaside Living next week - and if you missed the earlier columns, catch up here

 

About the author

 

Kate Thompson is a bestselling author and professional actress whose latest book The Kinsella Sisters, her 12^th, is set on the west coast of Ireland and follows the lives and loves of two very different sisters. Find out more here

Described as ‘Ireland's Joanna Lumley', she has acted alongside the likes of Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson and Liam Neeson. Visit Kate's website at www.kate-thomspon.com