Issue 34: Edinburgh, in the dark months
Four hours of daylight, a castle on a rock, and pubs that were built for exactly this weather...
Everyone goes to Edinburgh in August, for the festival, and finds a city rented out to the world. Go in January. The city is home, and it will let you in.
The light
It gets light at nine and dark at four, and in between the sun never gets high enough to clear the tenements. This sounds like a warning. It is a recommendation: the Old Town is built for shadow.
The walk
Up Arthur's Seat at three, to watch the city light itself. Down by four thirty in the dark, which is the fun part.
The pubs
- The one with the fire and the dogs.
- The one with the folk session on a Tuesday.
- The one your taxi driver names, which will be neither of the above and will be right.
The castle
Go, once, at opening, and stand on the battlements in a wind that comes straight from the Arctic. Then go and find the pub with the fire.
One place, every Thursday
The letter, in your inbox, before it is on the site. Nothing else, ever.
Writes Signal from wherever he was last Thursday. Eleven years, sixty countries, one forty-litre bag.
Signal
A weekly travel letter: one place, one week, one opinion.