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Free booking and cancellationFree payment tour, no set price, booking and cancellation are free
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Accepts electronic paymentThis tour allows payment by electronic means or credit card
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A bit of history, a bit of trivia and a wee dash of stand-up. Born and bred in Edinburgh, I worked as a staff reporter, feature writer and cinema editor on The Scotsman for 17 years and subsequently wrote regularly for the Guardian and London Times. I have written and edited several books, including The Times on Cinema and On Location - The Film Fan's Guide to Britain and Ireland.
Consistently rated one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world by Time Out magazine, Edinburgh's picturesque harbor has a rich history, from Plague Times and the romantic Mary Queen of Scots to the cult novel Trainspotting and the luxury yacht in the one where Charles and Di spent their honeymoon. .
It is also the birthplace of the modern sport of golf. Sound the horn... no, not St Andrews... Leith Links.
Leith is a short tram ride from Princes Street. (Buy your £2 ticket by card at the machine before you board). The Shore tram stop is just a few minutes walk from our departure point at Leith Community Croft.
Learn the sinister truth about two mysterious little hills in Leith Links... and the terrible secret hidden beneath the cricket and football pitches.
Now officially part of Edinburgh, there was a time in the 16th century when Leith was the de facto capital of Scotland. Then there was the Siege of Leith in which the Scots and French fought the English and, uh, some other Scots. And a few years later there was the war between Edinburgh and Leith.
Gentrification and deprivation coexist just a stone's throw from the sea and the banks of the Water of Leith.
The Shore offers a great opportunity for photographers on a sunny day. And, as the Proclaimers song goes, it's always sunny in Leith (except the day I took most of the photos). If you don't know it, look it up and hum it as you walk around the harbor with an award-winning writer, an officially licensed guide, and a local resident. (That's me, not three different people, by the way.)
I will be in the Leith Community Croft cafe area with a large black or red umbrella.
Free tours do not have a set price, instead, each person gives the guru at the end of the tour the amount that he or she considers appropriate (these usually range from €10 to $50 depending on satisfaction with the tour).