With his legacy written all over the south of Scotland, working out an itinerary can be almost as tough as trying to translate his Scots into English without losing its rollicking romance.
Fortunately, a new 187-mile Burns Trail has just been announced, whisking travellers on a six-day adventure from Eyemouth, on the east coast, across a swathe of the Borders to Dumfries in the west. This driving route is inspired by the tour of southern Scotland Burns took in 1787, and calls at the trio of romantically ruined abbeys at Kelso, Jedburgh and Melrose that fired his imagination, before easing west to Dumfries and Galloway.
Ayrshire will always be Burns country, but the historic market town of Dumfries was where he spent his later years. After years struggling to become the self-educated tenant farmer he dreamed of at Ellisland Farm (open to the public as a modest museum just north of Dumfries) and eulogised in his writing, he retreated to Dumfries, and the town is now as essential a stop for Burns devotees as Alloway.
The Burns House, where he lived from 1791 until his death in 1796, is a must. In this simple sandstone townhouse you can admire the famous Kilmarnock and Edinburgh editions of his work, as well see the simple study where he wrote some of his best-loved poems.
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/scotland/guide-robert-burns-scotland/
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Publish date : 2024-01-25 03:00:00
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