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Social Media

Rebustours have launched themselves on the Social Media scene, and you can now keep up to date with the latest information about ourselves using Twitter, or Facebook, use the below links to access our social status.

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Rebustours were launched in 2000, following close consultation with Ian Rankin and his UK publishers. Since then, several thousands of people have come on the tours from all over the world and during the period of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August each year the tours are regularly sold out. The tours were rated in the top three walking tours of Edinburgh by The Scotsman newspaper in 2003.

In recent years some of the participants on the tours have included: the Lothian and Borders Police force; groups from several universities and further education colleges in the UK and USA; a pathologist from Germany; a judge from Canada; journalists and travel writers; readers’ circles and librarians. The tours have been used within study programmes in Edinburgh by the University of California at Davis, the University of Wisconsin and Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

Here are some recent comments.

We start of cheerily at the City morgue in this entertaining and informative walking tour of Edinburgh, based around locations used by Ian Rankin in the popular Rebus series. Colin, the affable and quite eccentric host, leads his group around the Royal mile and Holyrood, dispensing historical facts and reading extracts from Ian Rankin. This tour would be a really good way for a visitor to get their bearings in Edinburgh both geographically and historically. There is a strong emphasis on architecture and literature with a visit to Robert Fergusson’s grave. On a nice day this is a great way to spend two hours whether or not you are a Rebus fan. K.M. Three Weeks Edinburgh Festival newspaper.

It was fantastic to get a real context to the books I’ve read so many times. I’m realy looking forward to revisiting them with fresh eyes, and a new understanding of Rebus’ world. -Brent Proctor, Presenter.

Morag and I are just back in Canada and (while I sit and sip a dram) we wanted to thank you for one of the most memorable parts of our trip. Your ability to both inform and entertain is a true gift. We hoped to see a little of Rebus’s Edinburgh but left with not only an appreciation of the Rankin characters and settings, but a better understanding of the character of the City. We enjoyed the 12.00p.m. tour so much that we returned for 3.00p.m. Your knowledge and enthusiasm for the writing of not just Ian Rankin, but all of Scotland’s artists, made the tour particularly enjoyable. To quote the Bard, – “to make a tour an tak a whirl, to learn bon ton an see the worl’ “. Morag and Jeff McNamee. Ottawa, Canada.

Due to your style of delivery, The Hidden Edinburgh is not just a Tour, it’s an Experience, and thanks again for that. Bill Lindsay, Linlithgow.

Colin was fascinating…I loved the story of  Robert Burns and Clarinda, the genesis of ‘Knots and Crosses’ and the stories of old Edinburgh. -James Ford, Chicago, U.S.A.

We came on New Years Eve as a party of 5 at 12.00 on the Rebustours. We all loved it, we learnt lots about Edinburgh and it’s history. It was better than all of my history lessons. I now want all the Rebus books. “It was brilliant” and it was one of the highlights of our holiday to Edinburgh!!! Thanks, Louis aged 12. Ludlow, Shropshire, England.

The tour was full of Edinburgh history – my friend is a big Rebus fan, and I was amazed by how much extraordinarily fascinating information that Colin was able to tell us about this ancient city along the way. I’d recommend the tour to anyone with an interest in old Edinburgh. - Yvette O’Neil, Writer.

Going on the Rebustour was the best field trip of my life.
- Jane, student, University of Wisconsin, USA.

I’m still giggling about being outside Mental Mickey’s [sic] flat, and you scolding some of the party for looking up at the window. You really do make the whole thing a memorable, witty and informative tour. Amy (& Lee) Guyatt.

These days Edinburgh has no shortage of literary tours but the Rebustours stand out from the crowd by offering something just that little bit different.- www.travelscotland.com

One of my favourite parts was when you read the excerpt about the man on top of Salisbury Crags while we were looking right at them.- Stephanie, Manchester, England

Take the tour and you can even see some of Rebus’ favourite pubs and pick up a dab of local history besides. Rankin himself has even been along and said: “I learned quite a bit – I remembered things about my own books I’d managed to forget.”-Toronto Star, January 2003

“Colin, our very Scottish tour guide, regaled us with tidbits of history and a long soliloquy on the Roberts (Fergusson and Burns) as he led us around parts of Edinburgh ignored by conventional tours. A fascinating walk fron a real local.” Three Weeks. Edinburgh Festival guide.

Your tour was – as they say in California – awesome. Thank you so much! - American Women’s Club of Central Scotland.

Colin triggered my brain to think of Edinburgh in a different way. - Alison. Edinburgh University/Bristol.

Your tour crammed in an extraordinary amount of  information about Scotland.  - Edmund Brandt. Hamburg.

Edinburgh is such a beautiful city and Colin Brown presented such a detailed account of it in such an extra-ordinarily knowledgeable and humourous way. – John Cummings. London.

…his knowledge of Scottish History was extensive and his enthusiasm and humour were infectious. John Bradley Wesley. London.

I particularly loved the coffee joke. I am still laughing about it. Thanks for a very entertaining tour. Mike Orr. Perth.

I loved it when you showed us Siobhan’s car when it was right outside the Police Station. Jo Cauldwell, Perth, Australia.

As I have now returned to Germany, once more I want to let you know that attending your Secret Edinburgh tour last Saturday (Oct 8th) has been a great pleasure for me. It was very interesting to visit some of the Rebus locations but to get also familiar with a certain area of this wonderful town and it’s history. As I said, “…much more than a Rebus tour…”. Peter Sturm.

We stumbled upon a recumbent body lying on the ground. We reported it to Saint Leonard’s Police Station!!! We later found out that the man was just dead drunk and not really dead! Thanks Colin for the added excitement. It really made the tour “come alive” for us!! S.Maine. London.

 

 

The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is that little bit extra.

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