Lower Largo

 Well, wasn't that lovely. It's been so long since Bennochy Walkers actually walked, we weren't sure if there would be an appetite for getting together one last time under that moniker. Oh ye of little faith - 17 of us got to the destination in one way or another. 

The intention was to travel from Kirkcaldy on the new trainline  to Leven then walk 3.5 miles to Lower Largo. The first hiccup we encountered was that the 1304 train was cancelled. That was plan A. There was no plan B. 

However, with little persuasion, four walkers offered to drive the rest of us along to Leven Train Station from where we began our walk. A nice, flat, canny start in the stoating rain. That was the second hiccup as this was opposite to the weather forecast. But nae fear - Mary was to hand with a bootful of brollies, so we were all equipped. We happened upon a Scottie dug who asked to have his photo taken with us. 

By the time we reached the other end of the prom, brollies were folded again. There was just enough blue in the sky to mak  a pair o' sailor's breeks as my mother would have said.

We walked alongside the golf course and noted that it hadn't rained there. Never does. We then opted to walk along the beach as it was easier under foot on the wet sand and we made reasonable progress given that we were yapping like there was no tomorrow. So much catching up to do. 

An essential element of our walks is the coffee and scone at the end. So by the time we reached Lower Largo, we pressed on, aware that our coffee stop, The Aurrie, was awaiting our arrival. Having looked up the word Aurrie on Google, it 's a Scots word meaning the space between pews down the centre of a church - the centre aisle then. It was an old Baptist church after all. Well I never. 

         

                                                 

Anyway their scones, coffee and homemade jam were to die for! We agreed there would be repeat visits to the Aurrie.

The third hiccup was that buses serving Lower Largo are few and far between on Sundays. An hour between actually, so folk that were not doing the return walk only had a short time to socialise before catching the bus back to Leven. The rest of us walked the 3.5 miles back. Just a wee stretch of the legs. Honestly, the Forth was so calm, we were almost paddling, and the sound of lapping water reached our souls. So peaceful were we that we just stopped there  and then and said the Gaelic Blessing together. 

On the way back to the cars, we were reminiscing of walks we had done many years ago and fondly recalled the fun and fellowship we had shared. So maybe this was the swansong for Bennochy Walkers, but today might well have rekindled a spark bright enough to propose a new group with a new name in the new Langtoun Church. 

Reunion!

 

At long last, the day has arrived for the Bennochy Walkers postponed Xmas get-together and what a great turn out there was! Nearly 2 whole years since our last walk, the walkers were back out in force!

Today we met, not at the usual church meeting point but at the Beveridge Park car park for the first segment of our fun packed afternoon activities. Our short 2 1/4 mile walk took in the Beveridge Park, Raith Estate and Mill Dam. The weather was kind to us and we were lucky to stay dry with the rain about to start as we approached our cars ready to head back to the church, and for part 2!

On arrival we were able to enjoy a slideshow of photographs taken on past jaunts, reminiscing where and when they had been taken. It was good to see the photos reminding us of happy times spent in each others company whilst reminding us of those now no longer able to enjoy the walking or sadly no longer with us.

There was of course what seemed like an endless supply of food to enjoy. A choice of tasty soups either lentil or apple and parsnip  followed by trifle, dumpling  shortbread and tablet with tea or coffee on offer. Our compliments to the chefs!

Once our bellies were full, it was time to enjoy our craft projects. For the ladies mini kilt making and for the gents, a chance to try their hand at an interesting looking project, turning an old drawer into a handy moveable storage unit on casters.

After a quick photo, the ladies had to model the kilts of course, it was time to move on. After such a long time away from walking you’d think even the short walk would have everyone exhausted but they were still able to muster up the energy for a country dance session followed by a lively rendition of Auld Lang Syne to round off a perfect Sunday afternoon. A good time had by all. Here’s to the next one!

Kerry

St Andrews

 I though I might share a few photos of yesterdays walk, The Lade Braes at St Andrews.

For those of you unfamiliar, It starts in the centre of town skirting past the back of the Botanic Gardens although with the shrubs and trees in full bloom the view is extremely limited. It mixes both wooded walkway and housing with parks and fields and has plenty to see along the way.

The path extends all the way to Craigtoun Park a good 3.5 miles It’s a fairly quiet route, until reaching the Park which was good to see how busy it was since not so long ago it looked rather forlorn and neglected. 

Looking forward to when we can all meet again, as Dame Vera Lynn Said - 
We’ll meet again, don’t know where, don’t know when but I know we’ll meet again Some sunny day!

Ps I know you all sung that last part!

Bye for now, stay safe!

Best wishes
Kerry and Stephen

Lochore Meadows 16th March

14 of us left the church at the usual time and headed of to Lochore Meadows where we were having our latest walk. Surprisingly the car park was a bit  full despite the current climate. I guess people were out because it was recommended we stay in. We are a  funny lot.

There was still 14 of us when we set of, led by Carol, who with some encouragement from Bill, was taking the walk. W e left from the new  Willie Clarke Visitor  Centre  opened in 2018 and named after the Mr. Clarke, a local councillor who was instrumental in pushing for the development of the  country park and ultimately the new Centre. He is perhaps less well known for the fact that he was the last Communist councillor in Britain. We started off around the loch in a clockwise direction, heads down as we had the benefit of a gale force wind in our faces. This part of the path also forms a short part of the Pilgrims Way although the park wouldn’t have been there when the Pilgrims came through. We were accompanied on this stretch by a little pug dog who trotted along behind us taking advantage of the shelter the group were providing. It was a bit of relief when we reached the tree line and nature reserve where we stopped for one of Mary’s sweets and a photo or two . It got a bit muddy at this point but most of us didn’t bother  much as we had plenty to talk about as usual.  After the mud came the only raised part of the walk up to Cluna Craig, but nobody needed to use our emergency oxygen. As we crossed the bridge over the river Ore we noticed a strange phenomenon (and that’s a strange word). Two little whirlpools had formed in the water above the bridge and we all stopped to have a look. If the whirlpools were strange, the sight of 14 adults looking over a bridge at whirlpools is very strange. We must be getting old. From there it was back to Communist councillor Willie Clarke’s centre for tea/coffee and various scones, pastries and cakes. It was about then the torrential rain came on. We do time things well. Much thanks to Carol and Bill. On our next walk we need to walk 6 feet apart, like a parade. No talking, just shouting.

Kinghorn

Today saw the first walk of 2020 for our walkers. It was looking promising as there were 18 of us in total, a good start to the year. The gloomy weather obviously hadn’t put anyone off, whether or not the rain would stay away was another matter.

Our cars parked at the Bay, the leisure complex attached to Pettycur Bay Caravan Park, we set off along the main road heading towards Kinghorn High Street, cars whizzing past us at speed to start the urban part of our walk. We turned left zigzagging our way along various streets commenting on the number of new houses that seemed to have sprung up recently on the outskirts of Kinghorn heading towards The Ecology Centre and Craigencalt.

Once reaching the Ecology Centre we were welcomed by a giant troll.

We headed past the Loch and unfortunately bypassed the cafe at Craigencalt since this wasn’t todays coffee stop. We were all cold by this time so a nice cuppa wouldn’t have gone amiss but we pressed on. Moving on uphill we were delighted to see the first flurry of Snowdrops.

Further along the route we crossed the main road into farmland providing gorgeous views of the Loch

Here the Highland Cows roam freely but seemed totally unperturbed that their field had just been invaded by a new herd. It was at this point the rain appeared albeit a short shower so fortunately we didn’t get too wet. Just around the corner the last downhill stretch led us back to the Bay arriving slightly ahead of schedule leaving plenty time for tea, coffee scones and chat.

Kirkcaldy

We had a lot to get through today so as soon as we could, the ‘15 walkers walking’ set off like an added addition to the 12 days of christmas on our local walk leaving Dianne and Ian behind at the church to make the preparations for the crafting we had to look forward to on our return. 

We set off from the church heading towards the old  Forth Park Maternity Hospital briefly pausing to have a look at the demolition work that has been started on it’s transformation into luxury flats.  Heading towards Longbraes we carried on, uphill all the way until we reached the top stopping to look downwards over Kirkcaldy, then downhill and a left turn bringing us onto Oriel Road. Here we began the journey back to the church, weaving through various streets until reaching our destination. Thanks to Hilda for planning our walk.

Crafting time was about to begin

        

Stephen and Ian had been tasked with creating a rustic christmas tree from old pallet wood with a very successful end result. 

Luckily Dianne had already started to prepare our wooden boards with stag templates for our string art session saving us a fair bit of time and showing what we should be doing. 

It certainly wasn’t as easy as it looked and unfortunately most of us ran out of time as our food was due to arrive. However we were able to take our crafts home to finish at our leisure. 

Valente’s delivered directly to the church, a variety of puddings, fish and chips which was enjoyed by everyone. 

We still had our fun quiz arranged by Ian and Sybil to look forward to. Allegedly easy but only easy if you knew the answers (which I didn’t). Once the quiz came to an end, it was time to tidy up the church hall and wish everyone a Merry Christmas before we headed home. 

Yet again, another great day spent with lovely people. A big thank you to everyone who arranged a part of it and to all those who attended making the event as enjoyable as it was. And yes, when I got home I did finish my stag!

See you all next year. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Kerry

And the finished articles - well done Kerry and Isobel

Glenrothes

Sunday 24th November,

Twelve walkers set off a bit earlier than usual at 12.30 and made our way to the car park behind Boots in Glenrothes where we intended to start our walk. When we got there we encountered our first problem as sneaky Fife Council have introduced a 3 hour limit on car parking in Glenrothes car parks. I might add that they have done this without any consultation with our group whatsoever. We decided to take the chance that we would be back within the time allowed and set off. We had agreed to begin by stopping in at Studio 8 as there was a craft fair going on but once we got there we were all keen to get off again due to our tight schedule. We crossed over Lidl's car park and into Town park passed some unusual looking totem poles no doubt erected by a tribe of Indians in the early 1900's. Actually the 14 poles are a sculpture created by artist David Harding in 1976 to represent architectural styles of early civilisations including Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Inca and Aztecs.  We carried on through the park alongside a very high and fast flowing River Leven before an impromptu photo while Dianne had her picture taken sitting on the back of one of the stone hippos littered around the park. 

A bit further on , after some muddy boots bits we came to the main Glenrothes to Leslie road and walked up to the roundabout by the giant irises which appeared first at the Glasgow garden festival of 1990. We had arranged for our coffeeand scones stop early in the Fettykill Fox except that they didn't do scones, but not to be outdone Dianne had brought a fine scone selection, some butter and jam with her. We all tucked into them while chatting about nothing in particular and were served tea/coffee by a very helpful member of staff. It was getting a bit when we got ready to continue with our walk and started to leave. As Janice was getting up to leave she got her foot caught on the leg of the table and fell onto the fireplace injuring her back. The result was that an ambulance was called by a staff member. However when the attending paramedics arrived it was decided that Janice was able to go home without a hospital visit as she thankfully wasn't badly injured. By this time it was obvious that darkness was falling and our walk should be cut short. There have been some bumps and scratches on previous walks but this is the first time anyone has been injured during our coffee break. Roll on our next one.