Return to Wigtown

Today I've been ambling about the Scottish countryside, stopping now and then as fancy took me. No great castles today, folks! Apparently there was a book festival, and quite a well known one at that, in Wigtown today. Still, there didn't seem to be all that many people in town and no crowds were mobbing any of the secondhand book shops I visited. They had some newer books for sale in a large tent, presumably connected to the festival, but I was the only customer there. Stwange.

As mentioned in 2008, Wigtown is a "designated" hub for secondhand books in Scotland, and it has tons of goodies for booklovers of all shapes and ages. I managed to get away with only a paperpack of five Arthur Conan Doyle science fiction stories, so I was lucky this time. As it was pissing down, I even left the place way sooner than I had intended to.

They still haven't changed the most unfortunate combination of place names in the history of the universe.


The Merkat cross. Merkat being Scottish for Market.


Where I bought my Doyle book.


I'm wondering if things aren't going so well for Wigtown nowadays. Some shops seemed closed and the place had a dusty, gritty, worn down feel to it. Might have been just the weather, of course.


Indeed, indeed.