AN intrepid adventurer from Bude has completed the third book in her trilogy series which solely relied on her own memories from almost 50 years ago.

Rosemary Lee’s first book, written with the help of detailed diaries, ‘Traveller’s Tales — Book One: Innocent Youth to Sober Maturity’, was published just before Christmas 2020, and the second in the series, ‘Traveller’s Tales — Book Two: Advancing Years Will Not Stop Me’, was published in February.

The final instalment of this exciting memoir of a traveller’s tales will be entitled ‘European Memories’ and follows Rosemary’s journey across Europe.

Explaining why she decided to start the trilogy, Rosemary said: “In February 2020, I returned from a trip to the Amazon, to find the world beginning to close its borders and normal life sinking into lockdown. After years of travelling regularly to far-flung destinations, I was restricted to my own living room, retreating into the memories recorded in 40 years of travel diaries. I decided to write up those diaries, at first only to make them easier for me to read, but then to make them available to other frustrated travellers by having them published. For months I travelled the world again through my writing, rekindling memories which were half-forgotten. The result was the two volumes of ‘Traveller’s Tales’.”

These were well received, with many friends asking Rosemary when she was going to write a third.

She said: “Friends began to ask when I would write about my European travels, especially the 25 years when I worked as a tour manager on coach tours around the continent. So I started my third ‘lockdown’ book, unsure whether I would actually remember much from those travels, up to 50 years earlier.

“Amazingly, the memories were still there, pouring on to the page, one story stimulating others, until I had written ‘European Memories’. Stories of life as a tour manager in the 1970s, 80s and 90s resurfaced, some challenging and others amusing (with the benefit of hindsight). And as I looked back on my years travelling in Europe, I began to realise just how much our continent has changed over the last decades — Central European countries breaking free from the communist yoke to reclaim their independence, divided Germany reunified, Yugoslavia torn apart by war...how privileged I was to see all this happen!”

Writing these books however has inspired Rosemary to hopefully resume her travels, when restrictions allow, to see how the world has changed as a result of the recent pandemic.

She said: “I cannot wait to get travelling again, to see how Europe, and the world, have continued to change despite (or because of) the COVID pandemic.”

‘Traveller’s Tales’, Books 1 and 2, and ‘European Memories’ are now available on Amazon or in Spencer Thorn bookshop in Bude.