Secret Edinburgh – An Unusual Guide: Q&A chat with author Hannah Robinson

29th August 2020

Secret Edinburgh – An Unusual Guide, written by Hannah Robinson, is the second edition of this quirky guide to Scotland’s magnificent capital city, from the ever inspiring Jonglez Publishing.

In Hannah’s introduction, she explains her approach to writing these rather special travel guides:

‘You must track down interesting characters, themes and locations, then balance them in an engaging plot line. Do copious research about topics you hardly remember from school, like the Corn Laws or Maxwell’s equations. Consult with experts and ask them to give you a simple explanation for things that they have spent their lives understanding. And then try and turn it all into a good story.’

There are around 150 such stories in this edition of Secret Edinburgh, arranged into geographic chapters: Old Town, New Town, North-Leith, South, West and East. Collectively, they will draw your attention to the multitude of details found in places that we may pass every day without noticing. These are an invitation to look more closely at the urban landscape and, more generally, a means of seeing our own city with the curiosity and attention that we often display while travelling elsewhere….

In normal non-pandemic circumstances, TripFiction would jump on a train to Waverley Station and explore all corners of Secret Edinburgh, armed with an increasingly dog-eared copy of this wonderful, quirky guide.

But in these extraordinary times, we’ve fired some socially distanced questions at Hannah about the book, and some of its most secret places, and hope her answers inspire you to get hold of the guide and plan a trip to Edinburgh in the near, and hopefully safer, future.

TF: Hello Hannah, and thanks so much for fielding our questions on this new edition of Secret Edinburgh. Firstly, how have you survived the last few months, and how on earth does a travel writer stay sane whilst being locked down?

HR: Luckily I’m not just a travel writer – I’m also a screenwriter, and I also run an animation company called Palindromicals. I might have a bit of what Irvine Welsh calls thriver’s guilt because I was really busy during lockdown, consulting on scripts and making animations for companies who couldn’t film. It was quite amazing at the beginning of being locked down in Edinburgh – the city was beautiful with no traffic and the wildlife taking over – I sat writing by my window looking over Leith docks with all the big ships parked up – and each day went out exploring and finding new hidden routes between secret unusual locations. In fact I’m going to be doing some walking tours of places in the guide with Toppings book shop on Sunday 6th September.

TF: This is the second edition of Secret Edinburgh. How many ‘stories’ have made the cut from the first edition, and how many are brand, spanking new?

HR: I only had to drop about five of the original entries – the saddest of which was the beautiful old wooden velodrome at Meadowbank which was torn down, and the amazing Swanfield flourmill mural by David Wilkinson, which finally fell off the wall. But I have included over thirty new places and they’re real finds.

TF: What are the criteria for a story to qualify for inclusion?

HR: It has to be unknown by most locals, either because it is hidden from view, hard to find or difficult to visit. But above all it has to have a good story or – in quite a few cases – several contradictory stories…

TF: Edinburgh is your home city. Which parts did you know best from earlier years, and how much did research for the guide open even your own native eyes?

HR: I guess I knew the city centre best because I would walk through it all the time, going to museums and parks as a child, shopping and clubbing as a teenager and working at the film festival as an adult. But the weird thing about your home town is that it’s the one place you forget to explore. Most of the places I included in the book I didn’t know about until I started investigating. There are so many hidden gunnels that I hadn’t gone up or things that I’d hadn’t spotted, it’s an endlessly fascinating city.

TF: I’ve heard that Leith is both a little edgy, and yet cool? I’d spend some time in this interesting suburb when next in Edinburgh. Which stories in the new edition of your guide should I particularly hunt down?

HR: Ha! That’s where my flat is. Leith’s great – it’s got amazing history to stumble across like Cromwell’s citadel, brilliant people to bump into like Mary Moriarty and fantastic old industrial buildings around the docks. One of the tiniest entries in the book is the E/L sign which shows where the dividing line between Leith and Edinburgh used to be – that’s a really interesting story. And you should definitely take a tour of the SS Explorer – she’s fantastic.

TF: What is your single favourite top tip from each geographic section of the guide?

HR: North/Leith I’ve already mentioned.

West has to be the Barnton Quarry bunker, which is like something off the set of “Chernobyl”. It’s being restored as a cold war museum by a team of volunteers called the bunker monkeys.

Old Town I’d say Rangers Impartial List of the Ladies of Pleasure of Edinburgh – it’s like a 17th century Tripadvisor for brothels. You can find a copy of it in the National Library and then take a tour of the locations mentioned nearby.

Guerilla Mosaics

Guerilla Mosaics (Spring)

New Town: The beautiful guerrilla mosaics which mysteriously appear perfectly formed under cover of the night in unloved spots – tiny patches of Pompeii amongst the graffiti.

South: I love the ceiling of Merchiston Tower, which has these extraordinary Rabelasian creatures painted amongst the rafters – (not for those of a delicate disposition though)

East: The wooden robots of Portobello – you’d be lucky to find one on the beach but their overlord sits on a tree stump in Figgate park.

Barnton Quarry Bunker Tunnel

TF: And finally, Hannah, these ‘Secret’ guides are intended for both local inhabitants and curious travellers. Where are you heading to as soon as you can, armed with a Jonglez guide to pique your curiosity?

HR: So many places I’ve always wanted to go and not got round to – Las Pozas, Edward James’ surrealist follies in the rainforest north of Mexico City, all the César Manrique places on Lanzarote. But probably top of the list is Georgetown Guyana because I’ve never been, despite a load of my family being from there – we’re planning a family reunion when all this is over.

A big thank you from the TripFiction team and our members for telling us a few secrets behind the new edition of Secret Edinburgh. Let’s hope it’s not too long before we’re tramping those ancient streets in search of your quirky stories.

Andrew for the TripFiction team

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