John Muir birthday to be marked

The 180th anniversary of the birth of John Muir is to be marked with a series of events in and around Pitlochry.

Wild land charity, the John Muir Trust, intends to mark the occasion with a number of special events in Highland Perthshire.

On Muir’s birthday tomorrow, poets Alec Finlay and Ken Cockburn will host a free walk on Dun Coillich hill in the shadow of Schiehallion, during which they will aim to create new place-names for as yet unrecognised features of the landscape.

The pair previously coauthored a book-length poem, The Road North, as they travelled through Scotland from the Machars Peninsula to Shetland.

On the following day, a trio of women – international artist Karen Rann, John Muir Trust land manager Liz Auty and Emma O’Shea from Walk Scotland – will lead a guided walk on Schiehallion itself.

The walk and talk will focus on the invention of contour lines by mathematician Charles Hutton during a famous scientific experiment on Schiehallion in 1774 to calculate the weight of the earth.

Liz Auty, the John Muir Trust’s Schiehallion land manager, said: “We are delighted to be celebrating the 180th birthday of one of Scotland’s great international heroes with these events centred on Schiehallion.”

The walks are part of the Lines of Attraction mini-festival at Schiehallion, supported by Creative Scotland.