As a writer my passion is for walking and for France. I studied French history at Uni and have been fascinated by the country ever since. My second book has just been published-Walking the Retreat, the March to the Marne: 1914 Revisited. In it I tell the story of the epic retreat by the French and British Armies before the Battle of the Marne , 6-9th September 1914, which rolled back the German invasion. I discovered the diary of a French lieutenant and followed his march for myself, walking 220 miles from Charleroi in Belgium to the battlefield of the Marne, east of Paris. I have made use of other contemporary French and British diaries. I have also done a lot of long distance walking in my life-New Zealand, Tibet, France and major trails in the UK. When I retired I walked 4,000 miles around the circumference of France. The result was my first book Walking the Hexagon, an escape around France on foot.