Rowling made a special effort to write Harry Potter in much loved cafes around Edinburgh's Old Town, her imagination thriving admist the bustle & caffeine. For Rowling cafes are a thread to the real world anchoring her as she explores her fantastical ones.

As the tide of Potter-mania began a cycle of retreat, Rowling was thankful for the rapture her work had received & spread her love. She said Edinburgh's Old Town, heaving with Hogwartian sights, surely rubbed off a little. But did you know she never lived there?

She's actually lived all over. Swanky Malfoy mansions & mice ridden hovels, she's hid out in ice cream bars, walked red carpets besides albino Holywood peacocks &, of course, her sleepy suburban cafes.

Wanna go see?

Harry Potter inspirations far from the madding crowd

4 hours, 15+ Rowling related stops, ice cream at many, whatever larks your heart desires en-route.

Arguably the best Harry Potter experience is a walking tour of Edinburgh's Old Town, because the Old Town is dense with Hogwartian sights & rich with story.

This tour is refreshing, you'll breathe in surf tossed air & drink in sweeping panoramic city-scapes. You'll wind your way through woods, circle around lochs, be greeted by corpulent North Sea gulls. If we're lucky we may even see Azkaban squatting grimly on the horizon. You'll see swathes of Scotland's capital you'd never see unless you lived here a decade.

Join my tour to escape the bustle of the Old Town's numerous zagging "Diagon Alleys" & learn a little more about the real texture of Rowling's life & the city she cherishes - her city. I hope you'll become like Rowling, Edinburgh will become meaningful to you.

A tour for people who think Harry Potter is important, or would simply love an expansive bike tour to blow out the Aragog-webs. Cast aside the books, clickbait & refresh buttons, put the polyurethane to the pedal & have a blast.

WOAH! That was a lot of reading 👏 must be time for a practical. I call this my...

Squib test
As each new school year commences I deploy it to weed my classes of Dunderheads, so the true, ripe, fruit of each generation can thrive. Predictably Neville failed.

So, say the charm aloud, LOUD. But in your head, with gusto & a tap. Ready?
3-2-1...

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Yer a WIZARD!     \__)

£100 hire-bike damage deposit per group

£45 per person. Alas minimum cost for a party £100. So 2 people costs £100, 3 people £45 × 3 = £135

50% off if you bring your own bike & a spare inner tube for punctures - Rotam reparo!

Free cancellation

While I perfect the tour it's a maximum of 8 pedallers

Group photos may be used on my website; life's cheerier when you've had porridge

Leisurely 4 ➤ 5 hours, depending upon ice cream consumption. We can stop for lunch & make it the days activity if you wish to treat me!

Requires 3 weeks notice. More notice, more love

Think you're a hot shot wizard boy know-it-all eh? Sure you are.

And Neville's toad is missing because he's off trying out to be Seeker. Can't be too hard given how often the incumbent crashes to the ground.

Try this one fly-boy, out LOUD, but in your head.
3-2-1...

If interested please contact Sam as soon as possible with your email, party size & availability.

Disclaimer
George Heriot's castled school pictured^ rising above Edinburgh's winding wizarding street, inside JK Rowling's mind is Not Harry Potter's Hogwarts; however it is other things to her.

This tour is not affiliated with Warner Brothers, JK Rowling or Bloomsbury. It's not official, those folk make magic & I wish them all the best. I'm just a Harry Potter fan who likes to cycle.

Art Credits
Thanks to Charlotte Brooke for her charming pencil of JK Rowling working the press. Available to purchase on Etsy.
Salute to Christopher Johnson for the much loved Harry Potter on a broom ASCII art.
Hopeful JK Rowling in charcoal by the talented Jewlian, danken danken.
Drop cap inspired by the shimmering folk at Pottermore 🤟

Oy, Brains, don't steal! Do unto others as you'd have done unto yourselves, or impoverish others if that's what you'd want for yourself.

For everyone else who isn't part of the tourism industry, please don't enable the tour snakes to steal my livelihood by recording sections of the tour & making it publicly accessible to them. I spent a few years living on £25 a week, in part because of industry snakes & their vile networks. I don't wish to return to it.