How to write a Scottish fantasy novel

Last night's offering from the Lit & Phil's Sense of Place series of events: a group of fantasy writers (members of The Write Fantastic) talking about how you set about conveying a sense of an invented - or half-invented - place. It was a wild and windy night outside, and conversation naturally turned to the rôle of the weather. I was very taken by Deborah J. Miller's remark that, as a Scot writing a fantasy version of Scotland, if she ever felt stuck, all she had to do was write "It was raining," and carry on from there.

Cassoulet and canal

Having been frustrated of a stay by the Canal du Midi in Homps, we emerged from the Gorges de Galamus and headed for Castelnaudary.

A sign at the entrance to the town announced that Castelnaudary is the world cassoulet capital. I was convinced that I'd read somewhere (and I'd assumed it was in Elizabeth David) that cassoulet has six authentic birthplaces, but I can't pin that down: the best I can do is a trinity of cassoulets - from Toulouse, Carcassonne and Castelnaudary, with this last being acknowledged as the first and original. We strolled along the canal from our hotel into town, and found ourselves a restaurant where we could eat our beans in the authentic manner.

The next morning we investigated the canal further. It's an extraordinary piece of seventeenth century engineering, making a waterway from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, 150 miles from Sète to Toulouse, where it joins the Garonne. An artificial lake in the center of Castelnaudary powers a staircase of four locks, and we explored this on foot before driving west, turning homeward but also trying to follow the canal. We weren't vert successful at this, but we did find the Seuil de Naurouze, the watershed which was such a challenge for the canal to cross on its way from one sea to the other. There was little visible sign of this - except the obelisk to Pierre-Paul Riquet, who is given the credit for overcoming this obstacle and making the canal possible (If I understand this correctly, he found a spring which rose near the watershed and divided, flowing half in each direction; is that possible?). The obelisk itself is in a walled enclosure, but rises above it, built on a rocky outcrop.

On the road again, and then back to the canal at Port Lauraguais, which turned out the be a halt on the canal combined with a motorway service station. A shop selling edible souvenirs, including glass jars of cassoulet, tins of confit, baga of beans - I restrained myself, and bought an illustrated guide to the canal. Then we lunched at the café, eating our salad by the window looking out at the water. They order [...] this matter better in France.