list.co.uk/aroundtown Events | AROUND TOWN

SCOTCH WHISKY EXPERIENCE 354 Castlehill, 220 0441, scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk Daily 10am–6pm; entry is as part of a tour. Tours £12.75–£52 (£10.25–£26; under 18s £6.50). Learn more about Scotland’s tastiest export with a tour and tasting session. There is also a bar and restaurant if you need a few more drams to help decide which is your favourite. SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT Horse Wynd, 0800 092 7500, scottish. parliament.uk Opening hours vary according to whether Parliament is in session, see website for details. Free. See Spanish architect Enric Miralles’ magnificent (and controversial) Holyrood building, take a tour of the interior, sit in on a debate or look at the artwork on display.

SCOTT MONUMENT Princes Street Gardens East, 529 4068, edinburghmuseums.org.uk Daily 10am– 7pm. £4. Commemorating Sir Walter

Scott, this is the largest monument of any writer in the world. Take all 287 steps to the top for a great view of the city, plus occasional exhibitions.

SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE AND JOHN KNOX HOUSE 43–45 High Street, 556 9579, scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk Daily 10am–6pm until Sat 31 Aug; from Sun 1 Sep closed Sun. Free entry to SSC; John Knox House £4.25 (£3.75; children £1; under 7s free). A stylish contemporary building appended to the 15th-century home of Protestant reformer John Knox, housing materials relating to Scotland’s rich oral culture. SURGEONS’ HALL MUSEUM Nicolson Street, 527 1649, museum. rcsed.ac.uk Daily 10am–5pm (last entry 4.15pm). £5 (£3). Home to permanent collections on pathological anatomy, the history of surgery and dentistry, as well as temporary exhibitions, talks and occasionally gruesome hands-on events.

AUTUMN SPORTING EVENTS Tough Mudder at Dalkeith Country Estate, Sat 24–Sun 25 Aug; Edin- burgh Nightride, Holyrood Park, Sat 7 Sep; Pedal for Scotland Sportive Ride, Glasgow Green, Sun 8 Sep; Glasgow Parkrun, Pollok Country Park, every Sat.

’Probably the toughest event on the planet’ is certainly a tagline to get the attention of every competitive try-hard out there, all bursting to pit their stamina against the kind of action-drenched endurance slog rarely seen outside of movie training montages and top secret naval bases in unspecified foreign countries. Fortunately for you, if you like the sound of that, the Europe-wide Tough Mudder endurance challenge is coming to Dalkeith Country Estate. To a bookish sort like The List it sounds frankly horrifying the ‘fun’ includes sprinting through a field of live electrical wires and running across a bed of blazing, kerosene-soaked hay.

Designed as part of Special Forces training (excepting, probably, the kilted Braveheart Charge they do to warm up), Tough Mudder’s website says it’s all about ‘taking on the obstacles in your life and the enormous sense of accomplishment that you feel when you overcome them’. You can see how being one of the 78% to reach the end would be a buzz, although there are far gentler ways to feel some kind of burn this month. For example, every Saturday morning’s 5km timed ‘parkrun’ around Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, or the Pedal for Scotland range of cycling events. With an eye on next year’s Commonwealth Games, these include everything from family rides in Edinburgh and Glasgow to the 110-mile Sportive Ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh on Sunday 8 September.

Staying on two wheels, Edinburgh Nightride is a 50-mile course ridden under street lighting from Holyrood Park out to Musselburgh and back, run by Global Adventure Challenges, or you can venture further afield with the same charitable company’s Edinburgh to Dublin bike ride from Thursday 12–Sunday 15 September. The Scotland Coast to Coast on Saturday 14–Sunday 15 September, meanwhile, is a challenging but stunning 100-mile course covered on foot, by bike and by kayak, taking in views of Loch Ness, the Great Glen, Ben Nevis and Glen Coe on the way. (David Pollock)

EVENTS Events are listed by city, then type. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication to sport@list.co.uk for sport or aroundtown@list.co.uk for all other events. Listings compiled by Jaclyn Arndt. Indicates Hitlist entry

GLASGOW

Activities & Events Black Cat Poker Every Thu, 7.30– 11pm. £5. Bon Accord, 153 North Street, 353 2342. No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker in Glasgow’s West End, with 10k starting stacks. Practise those poker faces, everyone. FREE Glasgow & District Fuchsia Society Annual Show Sat 24 & Sun 25 Aug, 10am–5pm. Kibble Palace, Glasgow Botanic Gardens, 730 Great Western Road, 334 2422. Got a flower fetish? Well, here’s a chance to see plenty of rare varieties. Glasgow Miracle City Walking Tour Every Sat & Sun, 11.15am–1.30pm. £19.50 (students and senior £16; under 18s £9.75; under 5s free). Glasgow School of Art, 167 Renfrew Street, 353 4584. Discover the city’s reinvention in the post-industrial age as a hotbed of creative innovation by exploring galleries, studios and public works of art. FREE Competitive Canines Sun 25 Aug, 11am–1pm. Parkmanor Green, damstodarnley.org Bring along your four- legged friends for this agility course and fitness training and have a look around the stalls and games too. Women’s Heritage Walks Sun 25 Aug, 2–4pm. £7.50. Contact for exact meeting location, 248 9969. The Glasgow Women’s Library leads these walks exploring the contributions of women whom history usually ignores. Today, it’s the East End Women’s Heritage Walk. Booking essential. Forget-Me-Not Family Walk Sun 1 Sep, 11.30am–1.30pm. £10–£25 (children £5–£7.50; family £25–£32.50). Pollok Country Park, Pollokshaws Road, 276 0924. The whole family can get out on this sponsored walk to help support Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research. FREE Glasgow Skeptics Mon 2 Sep, 7–9.30pm. The Admiral, 72a Waterloo Street, 221 7705. Tonight’s lecture is ‘The Skeptical Bobby’ with Stevyn Colgan. FREE Clydesdale Horses for Grown-Ups Wed 4 & Thu 12 Sep, 10–11.30am. Pollok Country Park, Pollokshaws Road, 276 0927. Meet the gentle giants up close. Booking essential. Scottish Screenwriters Mon 9 Sep, 6.30pm. £3. CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Everyone is welcome at these open sessions for screenwriters, which begin with an industry talk followed by a Q&A and a workshopping session. Ages 16+. FREE TalkSeePhotography Mon 9 Sep, 7pm. CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Photo types get together to share, discuss and look at still photography, with an eye to fostering the local scene. FREE City of Glasgow International Highland Cattle Show Sat 14 Sep, 10am–4pm. Pollok Country Park, Pollokshaws Road, 276 0924. The largest gathering of cattle in Scotland. Now who doesn’t want to see that? Write Camera Action Mon 16 Sep, 7–9pm. £5 (£3). CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Creative workshops for film writers, directors and actors to hone their crafts, with observers welcome. Ages 18+. FREE Specialist Tours at Glasgow Museums Tue 17 Sep, 2.30–3.30pm. Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, 200 Woodhead Road, South Nitshill Industrial Estate, 276 9300. A chance to poke around 200,000 creepy crawly specimens

22 Aug–19 Sep 2013 THE LIST 37