Looking for the best things to do, see and eat in Scotland? This man has 2117 ideas

AUTHOR PETER IRVINE IS YOUR PERSONAL GUIDE TO THE VERY BEST OF SCOTLAND. FROM EDINBURGH TO THE WESTERN ISLES, HE’S VISITED, RATED AND REMARKED ON THE BEST SCOTLAND HAS TO OFFER

IN a corner table of Cafe Gandolfi in Glasgow’s Merchant City this Thursday afternoon, Peter Irvine is sitting with a glass of water, a menu and a sense of trepidation. He should be celebrating. The latest edition of Scotland the Best, Irvine’s guide to all that is good and great in Scotland - from cafes, restaurants and pubs to waterfalls and wild swimming spots - is out today.

But that’s also the reason for the trepidation. Irvine fingers the pages of the new book - the 14th edition - hoping that everything within is still correct.

“I can’t stand it being out of date, to be honest,” he tells me right at the beginning of our conversation. “It takes a while to edit and print. I need to reassure myself that it’s current.

“I’ve been researching it in Edinburgh and Glasgow where there are a lot of new businesses, especially in Edinburgh I have to reassure myself that they’re going to be still open; not just in three months but in two or three years.

“All these new places, the Gen Z places, the artisan bakers, the coffee shops, the world food places on the South Side and down Edinburgh’s Leith Walk. Are they going to stay? Because it’s tough. And if you’re opening a new coffee shop there’s another six opened up down the street since you decided to do it. So, it’s tricky. I have to make that judgement.

“But I’ve always thought, ‘This is about the best. And if it’s among the best, the chances are it will remain. And so we’re in Cafe Gandolfi. It was the best and so it has remained. It’s very much like it was,” Irvine concludes, looking around him. “It has retained that middle European coffee shop vibe. It is timeless. The same with Valvona & Crolla and many others.”

Some things are worth celebrating then. Some 2117, in fact. From Loch Lomond on page one of Scotland the Best to Shetland’s Bonhoga Gallery and Weisdale Mill on page 376 of the book.

If you want to find out what Irvine believes are Edinburgh’s best fish and chips (The Fishmarket Newhaven and Pierinos on Bernard Street), Glasgow’s best vegan restaurants (Suissi Vegan Kitchen on Dumbarton Road and Glasvegan in St Enoch’s Square) or the most interesting coastal villages in Scotland (Plockton, Stromness, Cromarty and the Moray Coast fishing villages), it’s all here.

But it’s maybe not just Irvine’s desire to be accurate that is casting shadows today.

Since the last edition of Scotland the Best

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