An impeccable legacy: tributes to Rennie
M
Ironically, Rennie’s great
grandfather Donald Ross was a
legendary chief stalker on the Duke of
Portland’s Caithness estate. Born in
Hillfoots, Rennie had his first brush
with the lairds and their stalkers as
a member of the Menstrie Scouts. He
later lived in Stirling with Agnes, his
loving wife of nearly 60 years, in the
shadow of his beloved Ochils, and was a
long-suffering and life-long supporter
of Stirling Albion FC.
In later years he suffered from
Parkinson’s disease and his increasing
ill health and poor vision robbed him
of his greatest joy of striding the hills,
especially his home ground of the
Ochils.
The couple had four children:
Lesley Andrews, who runs Rowan Tree
Publishing, which has re-published
Rennie’s children’s books; Michael,
who lives with his family in Tasmania;
Tom and Niall. The couple have five
grandchildren.
Hillgoers throughout Scotland
and beyond owe an enormous debt of
gratitude to the kindly and generous
Rennie McOwan, who fought so long
and hard so that they could enjoy the
freedom of the hills we have today.
Rest in peace, old chum.
any tributes have been paid to Rennie from friends and
colleagues in the battle to formalise the public right of
freedom to roam in Scotland.
Ramblers Scotland’s vice-president Cameron McNeish said: “In
terms of campaigning for a freedom to roam and land reform, Rennie
McOwan was a giant. On a personal note I have always been indebted
to Rennie for so willingly and generously sharing his immense
knowledge of Scottish mountaineering, history, folklore and culture.
“Rennie McOwan will be remembered as an excellent journalist,
mountaineer, historian, environmental campaigner and a true son of
Scotland.”
Former director of Ramblers Scotland Dave Morris said:
“Rennie was a huge influence on me as we made the case in the 1990s
for access legislation.
“It was of enormous importance that Rennie was so supportive, so
firm and coherent in his writings and speeches and so knowledgeable
on Scottish traditions and culture. He was so helpful in providing
advice, encouragement and information on a regular basis.
“His passing is a big loss to Scotland, but he leaves us with an
impeccable legacy.”
His old friend and author of the definitive High Mountains of
Britain and Ireland, the late Irving Butterfield, profiled Rennie in
an article written for Scottish Mountaineer.
“Throughout his journeying Rennie fast developed a broader
perspective of his native country and found it fascinating to compare
the different cultural backgrounds, the varying uses of the land, the
effects of clearances, and the traditions of free access.
“In these studies a search for the truths of the old Gaelic culture was to
confirm in him his long-held belief of the freedom to roam.”
His long-time friend and colleague Hamish Brown said:
“Rennie was one of the leading outdoor writers in Scotland in the
Sixties… but for many years had been seriously ill and not able to
follow his dreams of hills, travel, meeting people and above all, his
writing.
“He was a doughty supporter of the Scottish landscape against the
crass developments that appeared and he was interested in history and
the natural world. We shared a great affection for the Ochils, hills we
lived under at their east and west ends.
“Rennie was a poet as well, and perhaps I can do no better than show
the man in something he wrote.”
The Things of the North by Rennie McOwan
Let us give thanks for the things of the north…
For blue, distant mountains tipping the curving brown sweep of moorland.
for grey, drystone walls climbing the green shoulder of a sunlit hill.
for hardy white houses, low-slung against the winds as if they had taken root.
for scattered clinging woods and storm-bent trees telling of strength and solitude.
Let us give thanks for the things of the north…
For dusty roads running to quiet farms deep in the glens.
for lichened stones and hidden lochs placid beneath the cliffs.
for amber burns that wend a gentle way though white bog-cotton.
for all the silences that so delight and the clean scents of a Highland night.
Let us give thanks for the things of the north…
For winds and rain that scour endless miles of rippling heather.
for an elemental wildness that knows little of cities and towns.
for an understanding that in stark harshness blinding beauty there abounds.
for those who walk and seek and find.
Let us give thanks for the things of the north.
winter 2018 | Outdoor focus 9