I'm here to rock your world

FROM his vantage point high on Arthur's Seat, Angus Miller can see Scotland's earliest history stretch out before him -the rugged, blackened volcanic plug that raises Edinburgh Castle towards the sky, the blob of what was once magma which squeezed its way to the surface to form Cramond Island, the rolling green Pentlands and the urban sprawl around the Braid Hills.

While other people might notice the rooftops and the back gardens, the Scottish Parliament and the office blocks, the road works and the shops, geologist Angus, the ultimate heavy rocker, peels away man's impact to gaze over a landscape rooted in the beginnings of time.

"A lot of people think geology is all boring old rocks and museums," he shrugs.

"But it's not dull at all. It's not all boring sandstone and basalt, it's about climate change and what's happening now as much as what happened millions of years ago. It's only a few weeks since we were talking about chunks falling off Salisbury Crags - that's geology too."

Indeed, with earthquakes and volcanic activity making headlines even now - earlier this week scientists were monitoring fresh eruptions at Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, and Japan's devastating tsunami yesterday following hard on the heels of New Zealand's earthquake tragedy - the study of the earth's materials and the dramatic, sometimes destructive processes it goes through, has rarely been more relevant.

And where else but here in Edinburgh - home of the globe's founder of modern geology, James Hutton - would the subject be at such a high?

Angus, 41, has seen interest in his geology-themed walking tours soar by more than 40 per cent in the past year alone as more of us take an interest in the very foundations of our landscape. Next month he'll join the Edinburgh International Science Festival with a special guided walk that will cover 2.5 km of the city centre and reveal how the rock on which roads, pavements and familiar buildings stand were formed 340 million years ago.

"It's difficult to say why there's been an increase in interest in geology," admits Angus, who studied geology at Edinburgh University. "It's probably a whole combination of reasons - it could be television programmes, events in other parts of the world like earthquakes and volcanoes. But there's definitely an increased awareness."

At weekends and on Tuesday mornings he leads groups on guided walks to sites of specific geological interest, pointing out the relevance behind what might look to the untrained eye to be just a pile of rocks, explaining how coastlines have formed and valleys carved.

For many who take part in his Geowalks guided tours, it's a chance to discover the ancient history of a landscape they may already feel familiar with but have never really learned.

"One tour goes to Cramond Island," explains Angus. "People often say they know the island but have never been - they're scared they'll get trapped by the tide. So I take them over, we talk about the island was made from hard rock, basically magma which came up through the earth's surface, dropped here and cooled down 320 million years ago.

"Once they're on the island, you can look across to the Isle of May and the coastal landscape and see it from a whole new perspective and understand how it was formed too.

"It's not about analysing every rock under a magnifying glass," he stresses. "It's about looking at the scenery around, the beaches and the rocky headlands and learning what made them and why they are there."

And although hundreds of millions of years separate their creation and our lives today, the way Scotland was formed then is fundamental to life now, he adds.

"This landscape is the reason we're here," he says. "It's the unique mix of rocks in this area that led to people settling here, that helped develop its economy through oil shale and coalfields and provided the stone for buildings. As I say, there's nothing dull about geology."

• Find out more about Geowalks at www.geowalks.demon.co.uk.

Walk and talk

WALK the walk and hear the talk - there's no shortage of guided tours in Edinburgh.

Whether it's tourist-friendly history tours, frightening ghost tours or literary walks, guided tours through museums and galleries, pub tours and architecture tours, you need never walk alone.

For fans of some of the city's best known authors, there are tours that delve into the heart of Trainspotting country in Leith, and others that take Rebus fans to his favourite watering hole.

If you prefer to go by two wheels, you can join Story Bikes - a cycle tour accompanied by one of the Edinburgh Storytelling Networks' members, Andy Hunter.

And GreenYonder Tours runs a series of city guided tours which reveals hidden gardens and urban wildlife.