On a dull day in Edinburgh 33 Strollers met at the Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street for a walk to St Giles guided by our Blue Badge Guides, Karen and Helen.
The basis of the walk was to celebrate
Edinburgh’s link with writers and its status as the first Unesco City of
Literature granted in 2004.
Chambers Street immediately gave a link to Chambers
the publisher and past Lord Provost. From here we moved to behind the Bedlam
Theatre to hear about the Bedlam Hospital and the poet Robert Ferguson who
after a fall and head knock was sent to the hospital which was designated for
the ‘mad’ people of Edinburgh. He died there at the age of 24 and his treatment
there caused one of the doctors, Andrew Duncan, to petition parliament for
money to start a hospital to properly care for these patients. The hospital he
started is still going in Morningside. Burns was also a great fan of Ferguson
and cited him as an influence in his poetry.
It was then off to Greyfriars Kirkyard to
remember the story of Greyfriars Bobby and the inspiration that JK Rowling got
from the cemetery for her writing. We also remembered not to rub the statue for
good luck!
From here we moved via the balcony on
Victoria Street to James Court behind Gladstones Land to hear about David Hume
and James Boswell who both lived in the square. We then went on to Lady Stairs
Close to hear her story and to hear about the Writers Museum which is a museum
in her old house.
From there we moved over to St Giles to
remember other writers like Sir Walter Scott, Ian Rankin, Muriel Sparks, Eric
Linklater and his son Magnus and Dorothy Dunnet.
We finished at the City Chambers where there
is now a walk of fame where famous people linked with Edinburgh, like Alexander
McCall Smith, set their handprints in concrete. Just like Hollywood!
Our thanks to our Guides and we look forward
to February and hope the weather stays as dry and mild as it did yesterday.
