A historic Highland peak A conical mountain of striking elegance that stands in the very heart of northern Scotland, Schiehallion is richer in "history and mystery" than any other Highland peak, said Oliver Smith in the FT . In folklore, it features as a fairy realm, the site of a magical well, the haunt of a witch with "frosted hair", and so on – tales perhaps rooted in some more ancient animistic belief. And thanks to its simple form and its isolation, it was chosen in 1773 by Charles Mason (he of the Mason-Dixon Line in the American colonies) for use in the first successful attempt to work out the mass of the Earth.
Overseen by the astronomer royal, Nevil Maskelyne, the experiment involved calculating the mountain's mass (a job for which Charles Hutton pioneered the use of contour lines) and observing the relative strength of its gravitational pull (using a pendulum) – after which the rest was a matter of deduction. More recently, Schiehallion has given its name to a brand of lager, a folk band, and an investment fund, while a lovely hotel – the Fortingall – has appeared beside it, making a great base for the relatively easy hike to its 1,083m summit. Gods and monsters in northern Greece An isolated massif with numerous peaks in northern Greece, Mount Olympus was held by the ancients to be the seat of the gods.
Today, "history and mythology lurk everywhere" around its flanks, and at 16 miles across, it offers plenty of divinely beautiful hiking, said Mike Unwin in .