Unsere Reise nach Wigtown, Schottland zum Autor des wunderbaren "Tagebuch eines Buchhändlers" und Inhabers des "The Bookshop" in der schottischen "Booktown". Der erste Teil heute. Noch ohne Shaun Bythell, aber trotzdem mit jeder Menge Fantasy und Abenteuer. Und dem Wächter des Clan Hannay...
Hier der Link zur Seite der Clan Society
Und hier der Link zur Facebook Seite
Und für unsere wunderbaren Gastgeber aus dem Clan Hannay und unseren Freund Steve hier die Übersetzung in ein hoffentlich akzeptables Englisch:
"Hello everyone out there.
I've already taken you on a trip a few times. Today we're trying that again. This time our goal is quite far away. But again a goal that should be of interest of all of us. It's about books, magic an fantasy. But before we start, there's the little back story...
In 2018, a certain Shaun Bythell from Wigtown, Scotland published his first book. In 2019 it was also published in German. With the catchy name “Diary of a Bookseller”. From the beginning there was a lot familiar to me in this book. There are simply endless parallels between all small bookstores. We also sold Shaun's book quite well and I think many of our customers have grown to love it in a similar way as we do. If you haven't read the book, I strongly encourage you to do so. For people who like books and small shops it's a great treat and a wonderful insight into Shaun's life with books.
His third book will soon be released in German. We have watched countless of his videos on social networks. I confess, we are fans... Then one day Katha said why don't we just travel to Scotland and visit the man? From that moment it was a done deal.
And so we now sit in the car to Calais and look forward to Scotland and the funny bookseller Shean Bythell.
Nothing planned. Nothing booked. Just drive off and see what lies ahead. Of course, a few ideas are in our heads. Wigtown is located in the far south of Scotland. In the "Galloway and Dumfries" council area. Whoever we spoke to in advance, we were always encouraged to visit the north of Scotland, the Highlands and the Isle of Skye. Accordingly, we have of course come up with a few possible destinations and a potential route to Inverness, Loch Ness and Isle of Skye. But always only as an option.
The premise was Wigtown from the start - and then see how it develops. As you can imagine, we were of course also hoping for a nice story and, if possible, an interview with Shaun Bythell...
So we went out to visit this bookshop in Wigtown AND see Scotland. In reality things turned out completely differently. We visited Wigtown and found Scotland RIGHT THERE. Incredibly nice and friendly people, wild and extremely biodiverse nature, lots of culture, of course a whiskey distillery and Scottish beer and even one of the clan seats of the Lowlands. Not far from the scene of Robert the Bruce's first battle against a seemingly far superior English army.
But slowly. From the beginning...
So we sit in the car to Calais and take the classic ferry to Dover. Then past London, Birmingham and Liverpool to the south of Scotland.
Unfortunately, when we arrive in Wigtown and first visit Shaun's bookshop, he is on his way. We can already see our chances dwindling. Nevertheless, we have a nice conversation with the bookseller Nicki - no, not the Nicki from the books - but one of the current employees in The Bookshop. And this Nicki is an incredibly nice and helpful person, as it quickly turns out. After a few minutes of conversation about our concerns, some books and our non-existent plans, she gets on the phone and calls a certain "Steve". He's supposed to be a nice guy and have exactly what we need... And so it happened that we postponed our conversation with Shaun Bythell until Monday. But instead were allowed to set up camp for the night beneath the Tower of Sorbie. Stephen Hanna is the guardian of the Sorbie Tower and therefore ambassador of the Clan Hannay, whose castle he guards,
