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Open Country

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of Britain

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

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Open Country: The John Muir Way

The John Muir Way

04/09/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Open Country, The John Muir Way

Helen Mark trails the new John Muir Way to hear how he was inspired by Dunbar's landscapes

A new route from Dunbar to Helensburgh is named after John Muir, the Scot who helped create the US National Parks. Helen Mark finds out more about the pioneering conservationist.

A young boy - John Muir - spent his early years in Scotland, playing along Dunbar's coast and scrambling across rocks. This early fascination with nature and 'wild places' later saw him campaign to protect them. When his family emigrated to the USA it led him on a path that would see him appeal directly to the president and help create the National Parks. Today he's known by most American schoolchildren but he is not so widely known in the UK. 

Helen Mark sets off on the new coast to coast John Muir Way from Dunbar to Helensburgh, named after the man but leading through his native country. She visits the town where he revelled in nature, hikes along some of the route with poets who've planted trees and created new writing inspired by his work and takes in Helix Park and the Kelpies - a dramatic modern designed landscape - far from the wilderness which Muir revelled in but which is bringing together thousands from the local community into the outdoors. 

Presented by Helen Mark and produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

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