‘No lack of wildness’ - a car-free break on the John Muir Way, Scotland

Bass Rock and Tantallon Castle pictured from the 120 bus near North Berwick, East Lothian. All photographs by Phoebe Taplin Photograph: Phoebe Taplin

Pioneering conservationist John Muir was born in Dunbar on the east coast of Scotland in 1838, and his birthplace is now a museum. He moved to the US when he was 11 and went on to create the Sierra Club organisation, which still protects Yosemite and other national parks. “When I was a boy in Scotland, I was fond of all things wild …” he wrote. “Around my native town of Dunbar by the stormy North Sea, there was no lack of wildness, though most of the land lay in smooth cultivation.”