Greetings from Edinburgh! This is one of my favorite places in the world and a fitting start to my next adventure – hiking the Rob Roy Way (RRW). The RRW is one of the Great Walks of Scotland, covering 79 miles over 8 days between the starting point of Drymen and finishing up in Pitlochry. I will share with you more about the details of the walk, the history and its significance as I go, over the coming week.
For now, I’ve enjoyed a very chill 2 days in Edinburgh and – as I write – I am speeding towards Balloch (via Glasgow) courtesy of ScotRail. I’ve treated myself to traveling in 1st class (free cup of tea!) and its very nice – quiet, spacious and I’m the only person in this section of the train so I have plenty of room to spread out. Its absolutely gorgeous weather today, warm and sunny, so the views of the Scottish countryside, as we chug out of the city, are just lovely. I feel I have earned a little bit of luxury as my flight from Chicago to Edinburgh was actually in economy (the horror!). It was the direct United flight that we were supposed to take for our wedding a couple years ago (but got canceled due to the pandemic) so it was nice to be able to finally take advantage of a convenient direct route (as it happens, I’m here in Edinburgh 3yrs (almost) to the day from our wedding – alas, no ManpanionTM this time though). Despite being almost 3hrs late to leave (sort it out, United), the flight was fine – although to add to the fun economy experience, I also had a middle seat (albeit in the exit row). Fortunately my seat row mates on either side weren’t too bad or manspready – although there was a slight skirmish of ArmRest Wars (I lost). Even though I had plenty of leg room, my arse basically fell asleep almost immediately (it was the only part of me that did) so I was mildly uncomfortable all night – but I figured for the difference in cost of about $3000, I could suck it up buttercup just this once (I’m back in biz on the flight home).
Edinburgh airport is pretty small, so I was through and out in no time (with bags – yey!). I got an Uber from the airport to my digs in the city – another unique experience, staying at a hostel in a converted prison and courthouse! (I know, I seem to be making a habit of staying in converted jailhouses!). It was called CoDE and its absolutely slap bang in the middle of Edinburgh Old Town – literally steps away from the Royal Mile. The location alone would give me no hesitation to recommend it – and even the experience of sharing a room with 7 other total strangers was Totally Fine. I took a little video to share with you what it was like – but for the price (I think it was around $80/night), its the best deal in town!!
Like pretty much everywhere in Edinburgh, the building has a storied and long history https://www.codehostels.com/hostels/the-court/ According to the blurb on their website, it is described as “A former courthouse and jail has transformed into a CoDE Pod Hostels – THE CoURT. The Victorian A-listed building is located in the heart of Edinburgh Old Town and surrounded by the most tourist attractions. The oldest part of the court buildings was completed in 1693. The building at 1A Parliament Square was originally designed as the Edinburgh police chambers and contained both holding cells and courtroom facilities including the former district court.”
In addition to the main old bits, during ongoing renovations, the hostel has recently discovered a “lost close” behind one of its walls – additional rooms that used to form part of the underground city. In a happy coincidence, the room now serves as the location for nightly whisky and gin tastings – so I signed up for the gin tasting so that i could go check it out. It’s not as extensive as the other more famous close across the street (The Real Mary King’s Close) but it is literally right under my feet so it was fun to see. Also discovered just a couple months ago – one of only 3 surviving Crossley Brothers engines dating back to Victorian times (if you are an engine nerd, click HERE) – they think it might have been used for the first ever air conditioning system. The gin tasting was fun and pretty educational – we tasted 4 different spirits, only 1 of which is what you’d describe as a modern day gin. The first was actually an Aqua Vitae – the ancient precursor of gin made without juniper berries or distillation techniques by a bunch of boozy old monks back in the 13th century. On its own, its pretty rough (the US equivalent would be moonshine) – but it became more drinkable with a dollop of ginger ale. Same for the next one, a spirit called Genever – this time made using juniper berries by the Dutch from the 15th century. Juniper was believed to have medicinal and health properties so it was originally used for that purpose – but it subsequently became popular with soldiers as its use gave them “Dutch courage” on the battlefield (hence the name!). It made its way over to England in the 17th century which then saw a boom as the English sought to make their own versions of gin.
Our third drink was of this era, an “Old Tom” gin – slightly less sweet than genever, but less dry than modern “London Dry” gin. There’s an explanation for the name “Old Tom” HERE from Wikipedia – but the one we were told had a bit more drama – basically someone was brewing gin in their bathtub as per the fashion of the time (apparently the favored use for bathtubs back in those days). Don’t ask me to get all technical but by this stage, distillation had been invented so there was heat, pressure – and a fair amount of danger involved (explosions were common). On this particular night, there was also a cat. By the next morning, the distiller had a bathtub full of freshly produced gin -which he then proceeded to sell to his customers of the day.
It was a hit! Apparently this gin tasted WAY better than usual, with less of the harsh taste that basically boiling alcohol with a fuck ton of juniper berries gets you. On further examination, it turned out that the cat had fallen into the bathtub and been distilled, along with the gin. The theory of why this made the gin taste so much better is that the heat cracked open the bones of the cat, thus allowing the sweetness of the bone marrow to mask the bitter flavor – hence the name, Old Tom(Cat) gin! This could be complete bollocks – but apparently subsequent to that, bones were regularly added to the gin distillation process (ie whatever bones you had leftover from your supper). Fortunately times have moved on, such that the last gin we tasted was feline-free, but it was a fun/gross anecdote that you can use to entertain and amuse your friends the next time you are all having a nice G&T!
So there is history everywhere here – I’d done quite a few of the touristy bits on previous visits to Edinburgh, so I didn’t feel compelled to run round and see the Castle again. I did, however, take another visit to Mary King’s Close as it was, ahem, close, being just across the street from CoDE. If you are interested to learn more about it, click HERE I remembered it was a fun tour last time – and I booked (at the very last minute as it was the only one with availability!) a tour to include Dr Arnott’s Sampling Sensation – “a 30 min immersive experience to uncover the secrets of 17th century medicine with a hands-on workshop led by Dr Arnott, an internal medicine physician whose specialty was diagnosing patients by… tasting their urine“.
It was a bit cheesy (as you’d expect) but it was a fun way to spend 30 mins, learning a bit about the types of herbs and whatnots that the quack docs at the time used. There is actually some science in the tasting of urine for diagnosing diabetic patients (although I’m not sure how common diabetes was in the 17th century?) as it would taste sweet due to the excess sugar. Apparently it was a very lucrative profession and Dr Arnott became very wealthy – you would certainly have to be to make that worthwhile!! We made a “herbal concoction” to treat a patient (the recipe was milk, pumpkin syrup, hot water, cinnamon and meal worm grubs (thankfully optional)) – I gamely gave it a try – but I don’t think the makers of Ovaltine need worry anytime soon! We also diagnosed how hydrated a patient was based on their urine (aka tea) color – apparently, it was very arduous to fetch clean water in the 17th century in Edinburgh, so everyone basically drank red wine instead – so hydration was not the best! If you were only mildly dehydrated (which all our samples were), you were actually doing better than most people!
The rest of the tour prior to the sampling workshop was pretty much how I remembered it – if you are ever in Edinburgh, it’s well worth checking out as its truly fascinating to tour (albeit a limited section of) the hidden underground city. Our tour guide did a good job of describing what the living conditions were like back in those days – pretty horrific if you happened to be poor and had to live in the deepest, dankest basements – or right at the very top of 15 story high tenements (reached via perilously narrow external staircases that were easy to tumble off to your death below!). He also talked a bit about the plague – which is endlessly gruesomely fascinating – and how the plague doctors who called on the sick did some of the right things, albeit for the wrong reasons. Back then the belief was that the plague was carried by bad smells or miasmas – hence the long raven’s beak mask, worn as part of the outfit of the doctor, that was stuffed full of aromatic herbs. It only had a small opening right at the very end – which meant that it was very difficult for the plague-carrying fleas to make their way in and to battle through the herbage. Also the waxed leather coat, trousers and gloves worn by the doctor similarly covered the rest of the body – again, providing a decent level of protection from the fleas being able to jump on and bite. He also described the quarantine tents that were erected outside of the city walls where people who either had – or were suspected of having – the plague were kept – either to recover or to die – again, moving people out of the crowded city into tents that were less likely to be rat-infested was a good idea, even if the main thought at the time was that the benefit was due to the fresher air.
Other than that little tourist excursion, I spent my time happily shopping (hello M&S and Jigsaw), enjoyed some profoundly spectacular fish & chips (Mumsie – you were right!), a delicious bowl of cullen skink and took a few naps here and there to counteract the jetlag. In addition to the Lost Close underneath, the hostel also ran free events each day for its guests – I happened to be passing by just as the “Taste of Scotland” one was about to start on Saturday night, so I stopped and enjoyed the freebie shortbread, haggis, Irn-Bru and whisky. I do love haggis – as long as you don’t think about it, its yummy. And, while I learned to drink whisky for the wedding a couple years ago, I have to say I’m not really a fan – at least the one we tried (Glen Moray).
So that was Edinburgh – and now I’m in Drymen where tomorrow I will set off on the Rob Roy Way! The weather could not be better for hiking – its forecast to be in the mid-60s and dry all week – so I’m very much looking forward to some glorious views! Right now, I’m about to head out for dinner at The Clachan Inn (established in 1734 and the oldest licensed pub in Scotland – apparently) – so tasty treats await! I’ll see you tomorrow after my first day of walking (fingers crossed I don’t get lost!).
