Backpacking Europe '94: Lost & Found in Edinburgh

This is part of a blog series commemorating the 30th anniversary of a life-changing backpacking tour of Europe that I experienced with my friend Joey.

Jeremy (the author) at Nelson's Monument in Edinburgh.

​Getting Around⸺Old School Style

Thinking about travelling without Google Maps, GPS, or Smartphones is odd. We have become so dependent on tech to show us the way... But, when travelling in the mid-90s, we had to rely on guidebooks (like Harvard U’s Let’s Go series) for most of the information about where to stay, what to see, and how to get there. Unfortunately, the information on trains, ferries, bus schedules, places to eat, museums, and other essential details was often a year out-of-date by the time the guidebook was actually published. We also had to find a payphone if phone calls needed to be made⸺and, payphones were hard to find even in those days. If we needed to get around, we had to rely on vague, not-to-scale tourist maps that only covered the main touristy areas. As for guidebooks, the Let’s Go series was a great resource, but even the Europe 1994 edition frequently carried frustratingly out-of-date information. There were countless times Joey and I trekked for kilometres to find a pub or youth hostel that was either closed or out-of-business… 

North to Scotland

​After bidding farewell to Yorkshire, Joey and I headed north to the capital city of Scotland. The bus took us past Hadrian’s Wall and through the hilly, wild, and barren moorlands of the Southern Uplands. In my journal, I wrote about the view on that first journey to the land of brave hearts and tartan kilts: “Scotland’s landscape is breathtaking. The sun was setting beyond a clear, still lake surrounded by evergreens and rolling hills. I feel taken aback by the view.” 

We stayed our first evening with relatives of my old pastor back home. Their names were Bill and Pearl Gordon. The next day, Bill toured us around the city to show us a few sights and give us the lay of the land. According to locals, Edinburgh is a damp, overcast, and chilly city 365 days a year; that was certainly our experience there. The wind was bitter and cold on our first day, even by Canadian standards.

Edinburgh⸺“Auld Reekie”

​Cold, damp, and dark… But what a city! The dense and historical city sits upon an old volcano with a castle fortress perched at the highest point like the Athenian Acropolis. Surrounding this raw, craggy stone monolith are ornate medieval buildings and cobblestone.

Joey, chilled to the bone, on the windy top of Nelson's Tower in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle

​Edinburgh is known as “Auld Reekie”—which, despite being a somewhat odorous place, doesn’t mean that the city is extra stinky. The nickname is Scottish for “Old Smokey”—referring to the brownish smoke from the city’s reliance on coal heating in the 1950s. The smoke is long gone, but the name has stuck. Yet, many of the Craigleith sandstone structures are darkened by layers of sooty, black grime accumulated from those decades of coal-burning fireplaces in the mid-twentieth century. The blackened walls, spires, and monuments give the city an eery and macabre feeling. The frequent cloudy grey skies and the inescapable damp chill in the air reinforce this gothic aesthetic. From the “main drag”—called the “Royal Mile”—there are narrow passageways and alleys that wind mysteriously downward between buildings. These shadowy, narrow alleys—called “closes”—further add to the creepy aura of the city.

“Anchor Close” Photo by Adam Bulley

It’s as though you are walking through the pages of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Gothic horror novella, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886). Though the story is set in West London, Stevenson was from Edinburgh. I suspect he drew inspiration from this city's ominous blackened stone structures and narrow, shadowy alleys. It is widely believed that Stevenson did take inspiration from an Edinburgh resident named Deacon Brodie, a respected cabinet maker and locksmith who was also a burglar by night. The duplicitous carpenter was ultimately caught and hanged on a gibbet—one that he most likely built himself as a carpenter. 

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​Unbeknownst to me (at the time), there was another literary connection to Auld Reekie. While Joey and I were wandering the cobblestone streets of Edinburgh, a living local author was in the throes of writing a children’s book about a school for wizards. J.K. Rowling published her first Harry Potter book in 1997, and she wrote most of the draft in local cafes after moving to the city in 1993. So, she was around town in 1994 when Joey and I were there. Perhaps we inadvertently ran into her? Perhaps we even inspired a few of her minor characters, maybe a shopkeeper running a wand shop or selling Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Maybe a student wizard or two? At this stage in the trip, my beard was not burly enough to conjure the likes of Hagrid or Dumbledore!

Extending Our Stay in Auld Reekie

​During this first visit, we spent two days exploring the city. Though our guidebook was vague and misleading at times, we managed to get around and enjoy the city (in large part due to the orientation provided by Bill!). In fact, Joey and I loved the city so much that we opted to extend our planned stay a few more days. That night (Friday, September 30, 1994), we walked around the city with our packs, ducking in and out of youth hostels, looking for a place to stay. We hadn’t realized that a festival was underway and every cheap accommodation was full. We kept getting turned away, and my guidebook ran out of options. As the streets darkened and our hope of finding a place diminished, we decided that our only option was to camp in a nearby nature preserve called Holyrood Park. The park is near Queen Elizabeth’s royal palace, about a mile from the heart of town. At the park's centre is another extinct volcano called Arthur’s Seat. The hefty-sized hill stands 250 meters, and it is named—according to legend—after King Arthur's throne (although I am not sure why...). 

J.K. Rowling seen writing a section of one of her Harry Potter books on the table in The Elephant House in Edinburgh (from BBC).

Jeremy (the author) about to climb Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.

Urban Camping on Arthur’s Seat

​Joey and I scaled the sometimes steep and slippery mountainside, straying off the main paths in search of a secluded spot to build a campsite. Despite the rocky barrenness of Arthur’s Seat, we eventually made “camp” on a relatively level spot among some shrubbery. Without a tent, we simply laid out our sleeping bags and used our rucksacks as shields against the wind. Before leaving the populated part of town, we had purchased some bread, meat, and cheese to make sandwiches. Just as we settled down to make dinner, however, the clouds burst, and rain started to fall. We immediately packed our gear and hiked back into town, again searching for a warm, dry place to sleep for the night. Sopping wet and weary, we lumbered into a pub, ordered pints of bitter—an English-style pale ale—and continued our sandwich-making in utter despair. The pub was filled with people, and there was a small but able group of musicians playing folk music on fiddles, guitars, and pipes. The folk music offered some comfort. In my journal, I note that the atmosphere of this historic pub helped “deter my mind from dwelling on the fact that we were homeless” on a rainy night. However, we were also well aware that eventually the pub would close, and we would have nowhere to go.  

Lost and Found in Edinburgh

I have mentioned a few times in this blog series that my trip to Europe was transformative in many ways. One of the most powerful impacts this trip had on me was spiritual. Even though I was raised in the church, I didn’t come to believe in Christ until I was sixteen years old. The Scriptures tell us that faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8–9). Indeed, when reading the book of Isaiah as a sixteen year old, I came to truly know and believe in God in a miraculous and supernatural way. Growing up, I knew about God. But now, by God's grace, I knew Him. Leading up to my trip to Europe, however, I was wrestling with doubts and struggling with my relatively new, wet-behind-the-ears, three-year-old faith. The mountaintop experience at conversion had slipped into a valley of uncertainty and doubt. This was mirrored by the elation we had camping on the Edinburgh mountaintop, only to be driven into the valley of despair. Another parallel between my physical and spiritual journey was my travel guidebook—which I read and tried to follow religiously—failed to provide authentic guidance; whereas, the true guidebook of Life, the Word of God, remained in my pack unopened.

​My trip to Europe, then, was more of an attempted escape from truly facing this lowpoint my spiritual life. I wasn’t exactly on a Jonah-like attempt to  “flee from the presence of the Lord,” but I wasn’t “on fire” for the things of God in the same way that I was early in my walk with Jesus. I have since come to understand that in our spiritual journeys, we sometimes experience ebbs and flow, ups and downs, in our spiritual life. A cursory reading of the Psalms shows David’s highs and lows with poetic intensity. At the time, though, I didn't understand that becoming more like Jesus is a long, arduous process of God refining, shaping, and teaching me. God wasn't finished with me yet.

At this stage of my life, however, I was simply feeling lost in life. So, like most shaggy, long-haired, bearded hippies (which I was slowly becoming), I went to Europe to “find myself.” I had just graduated from high school but wasn’t sure what God was calling me to do... if he was calling me at all. I had convinced myself that bumming around Europe was the best option for my limbo-like state of lostness.

Jeremy (the author) with Bill Gordon.

My friend Joey was also raised in the church with me, and he was uncertain as to his own faith in God. Yet, early on in our trip, Joey was actively seeking the Lord in ways he hadn’t done before—he was regularly reading the Bible he had with him and he often encouraged us to find churches for worship on Sundays. Providentially, as I sat in a pub staring bitterly into my pint of “bitter,” my heart and mind were drawn to the Lord.

The Apostle Peter says, “Throw all your anxiety onto him, because he cares about you” (1 Peter 5:7 CSB). ​So, I quietly cast my cares on the Lord. I prayed to Him for help. Moments later, a young Welshman approached me and Joey and asked if we had a place to stay. He was a graduate student at one of the universities in Edinburgh. He and his roommates noticed us (with our massive rucksacks and my yellow raincoat) and wanted to know if we had a place to stay. ​

The Lord answers prayers. 

He explained that one of their roommates had recently moved out, so they had a spare room. He said we were welcome to come and crash at their place for the night. Without much hesitation, we took him up on the offer. Thinking back on it now, I probably shouldn’t have been so keen to stay at a stranger’s home... Yet, both Joey and I felt this man’s offer was an answer to prayer—which, indeed, it was. 

When the three roomates led us back to their apartment, the rain had stopped. Weaving through the dark, Edinburgh alleyways and streets, we finally arrived at their cozy little pad. Both the Welshman (whose name I can't recall) and Joey were talented guitarists, so we spent the evening playing and listening to music, singing, laughing, and enjoying good conversation.
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The Lord abundantly answers prayers.

The next day, after bidding farewell to our new friends, God provided us with accommodations at another youth hostel, so we were able to stay the weekend in Edinburgh. We also attended Morningside Baptist Church on Sunday and were tremendously blessed to worship God with His people.

My European journey was far from over, and my spiritual journey wasn’t over either. This weekend in Edinburgh, however, proved to be an encouraging spiritual milestone along the way of my spiritual pilgrimage. I was powerfully reminded that “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged” (Deuteronomy 31:8).