East Wemyss to Pathhead

We had to be off our marks from the kirk as we had to catch a bus at Mid Street before 1.00pm. to take us to the beginning of the walk at East Wemyss. We gathered at Mid St in plenty of time but when the no 13 was a couple of minutes late there were a few doubting Thomases ( Thomases?) who questioned my competency in looking up a timetable. Anyway we all piled on a wee 20 seater and that was the bus filled. Not being used to public transport myself, I was irritated that it kept going on wee detours; through Dysart and West Wemyss, and even down to the shore at East Wemyss. Anyway, we disembar....alight... got off the bus at Macduff cemetery, the start of today's walk. It was a bit breezy which swept the grey clouds away over towards Edinburgh and left our Fife skies almost Royal blue. We could feel our cares drifting away as we strode out and absorbed the beauty in our field of vision, especially the sun striking the Forth which sparkled with diamonds and sapphires. We followed the coastal path arrows which took us down some very steep steps to the shore. Folk were well prepared for this today though as a few were equipped with walking poles. Once at the shore the walk was easy and so was the conversation. There were thirteen of us today. Hi to Kerry who was with us for the first time. With East Wemyss behind us, Wemyss castle was towering above us on the cliffs. This is the ancient seat of the Earls of Wemyss, still inhabited by the family today. The castle itself is closed to the public but the gardens are open between May and July - missed it again. It looks a bit like Colditz actually. Approaching West Wemyss we stopped off at St Aidan's, a beautiful old church and a place of perfect peace and serenity. On the move again we kept to the path alongside the sea wall which is in very good condition and looks really attractive but actually didn't manage to keep the river Forth out of the Wemyss folk's living rooms in the freak storms of March this year. The Fife coast had a real battering at that time but has made a remarkable recovery. We were really taken with the old buildings in West Wemyss although there are many empty houses. Most of the village and Coaltown of Wemyss also would have belonged to the Wemyss Estate at one time but in the last few years have been taken over by Kingdom Homes. It is such a historic picturesque town, we hope that it is brought up to date by the new owners and given a new lease of life. The wee harbour is really lovely but the best view of it and Blair point is from the top of the long and very steep stairs we are standing on in picture 1.
This is Sandra on her own - how lovely is this.
Now I must go and see the very very Last of the summer wine - back later.
Well, that was a wee bit of a let down for a last episode. Maybe it is time to bow out gracefully. I wonder, can you spot a Foggy, Compo, Pearl, Nora or even a Marina in picture 2?
We soon had the winding gear of the Frances Pit in sight meaning we were only minutes from Dysart, and we stopped as we entered the village to read the lovely memorial to the Pit and it's workers. We were still able to get a last terrific view across the water before we headed downwards towards the harbour.

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise

We sang this hymn this morning in church and it was going through my mind as we shared with each other the feeling of gratitude for the beauty around us today. Quickening our pace now we had to make sure we got into the Harbourmaster's house for refreshments before it closed. The poor girl wasn't expecting 13 customers at the last gasp so it took some time to be served but she was pleasant and we were patient. We had not yet completed our walk so the next picture shows the group at the harbour after coffee looking wabbit but happy.

And so a daunder through Ravenscraig Park took us back to Pathhead where we gathered as always and asked God for His safe-keeping until we meet again.

Cupar/ Cuparmuir

We took today's walk from a leaflet prepared by the Rambler's Association, St Andrew's Branch. There are 14 walks described simply and accurately and split into short, medium and long walks. We would recommend the leaflet to other groups and we'll definitely use it again. We parked at Fluthers Car Park in the middle of Cupar and crossed the busy A91 into Station Road then off into Waterend Road which made us feel we were on a country walk right away. The footpath bordered the river and had a good bitumen surface all the way. Clearly it is a well used track for dog walkers and we had to be vigilant lest we trod in deposits left unscooped! Under the South Bridge and a right turn took us into Millgate, a lovely street of beautiful bungalows all with gardens in full bloom. We so thoroughly enjoyed comparing and judging the flowers and giving unqualified opinions on the layout of front gardens that we hardly noticed the incline leading us into Millbank, another lovely residential street with manicured lawns and hedges.Leaving the houses behind we were now on the flat Brighton Road flanked by fields and the great views of countryside that you can only get in the Howe of Fife. A mile goes pretty quickly when you are chatting so we soon arrived in Cuparmuir, a wee settlement of about 35 houses and a phonebox. In the first photo above we are standing outside a house which used to be the village shop. The current owners have tastefully modernised the shop into a home but left the name of M & J Murray above the door, which was really very thoughtful and I'm sure of interest to people passing on foot. Further down this road, Commerce Street, we were again passing our opinions on the renovation of all the houses and the school, then under the railway bridge took us towards Damside Mill which produces animal foodstuffs. Remarkably no pong. Just past the mill we crossed the River Eden by the Simpson Bridge which was built in 1904 for the workers to reach the mill, a paper mill at that time I think. But I can't find out who Simpson was. There was a bit of an incline from there till we reached the main A914 which lead us into Cupar town once again. The first lovely house on our left, Mount PLeasant, had us hanging over the dyke gawping at all the flowers and vegetables they were growing. Apple, pear and plums trees, heavy with fruit, and in the garden below were asparagus, beetroot, cabbage, potatoes to name a few, and sunflowers which must be ten feet tall. Moving on then we left the busy main street via Cow Brae and back to the river again. We appreciated this peaceful stretch after the noise and fast traffic of the A914. You can see by the second photo how relaxed we were. Look at the green, green grass of Cupar too. What a beautiful summer's day we have enjoyed. At the rear of Fisher's laundry are some stairs which took us back to the railway line and we were soon thinking about our coffee stop which was to be at Watt's Eaterie off Station Rd. As the sun was still shining we chose to sit outside and we waited for our order to be taken. We waited patiently. A delightful chatty young waiter took our orders and we waited for them to be served. Our waiter was keeping cool but clearly under pressure and brought the biscuits and cakes first. Then we waited for our drinks. Eatables now scoffed, the tea came but the coffee drinkers waited. Then TA-DA! The coffee arrived. Phew. Because we had spent some time before our refreshments we really had to get the bill right away. Mmm.... Yip more waiting, followed by an excessive estimate by the stressed out waiter, until we finally took charge ourselves and sorted out the bill. Oh dear Watt's this was pretty disappointing. Didn't spoil our enjoyment of the good company though as we chatted and planned how to augment the membership of our wee group. We said our goodbyes at the carpark today and are already looking forward to our next walk in a fortnight.

Forth Road Bridge

As there were 14 walkers today we decided to be environmentally friendly and take one minibus rather than 4 cars to North Queensferry. The bus worked out well other than the driver taking a wrong turning before we even got there. That aside we parked at the Queensferry Hotel and made for the bridge. Only one side was open to pedestrians today; there must have been some necessary repair work going on. So we walked both ways on the north side getting great views of Rosyth Dockyard on the Fife side and Port Edgar on the Sth Queensferry side. We had only just started walking when one of us realised she had forgotten to change from shoes to walking boots but thought it didn't matter. As you can see from the first photo everyone was fresh and smiling and the sky behind blue with fluffy clouds. No matter how lovely a day however, you always get a fair skelp of the wind on the bridge, but it didn't hinder us. We actually crossed over in under half an hour. In fact we weren't even ready for the advertised coffee and sticky bun at the Brewer's Fayre and so decided to go on a little further to South Queensferry. So we toddled off underneath the carriageways this time into the wee town which was bustling with daytrippers, holidaymakers and a wedding reception at Orocco Pier. The ladies were hoping to see the bride but alas she did not make an appearance. As we felt we wouldn't really fit in having our refreshments at Orocco Pier with the guests, Mary did a quick reconnoitre at a wee cafe opposite which turned out to be very suitable. Whatsmore, the Ravenous Beastie was a bit more than your average cafe; it's actually a restaurant offering a very good menu as well as a guest house. We had pleasant service from the young waiter/tress too which our group always comment on. It had a quaint toilet (named the Burstin' Beastie) as well - no electric light, but a candle giving only just enough light to see where one should position oneself. It was less than adequate however for the walker who was wearing her shoes, without socks, and had to stick plasters on her blisters in the half dark. Anyway, the middle photo shows the advisory committee debating the score - the establishment got a 9/10 from us. We had a photo-shoot with the Forth Bridge (the real one) in the background then began our return journey, uphill this time. As always, we quite naturally vary who we walk alongside between conversations, learning a bit more about each of us with every exchange. As you can see by the third photo, it was blawin' a gale and some folk were on their knees by the time we got back to where we started. It was fascinating how the women's hairdos were skew-whiff yet the men had not a hair out of place. Makes you wonder...
Safely back at the kirk we shared our appreciation of a fine healthy walk, great weather, our wonderful bridges and each other's company, especially our four new walkers. As always we said a short Gaelic blessing before we parted. Another good one chalked up.

Blairadam Forest, Kelty

As a few of our core group were on holiday this week we decided just to do a short walk, 2.5 miles or so, just to keep things ticking over. The forecast wasn't good but we worthies donned our waterproofs and left the kirk to whispers of "daft"and "crackpots" amongst others. Some couldn't even understand what possessed us to go to Kelty! Whatever did they mean?
Today was the first walk we had done without doing a reconnoiter first, but we were armed with a map of the forest downloaded from the internet. A fine help that turned out to be. There were 3 routes on the map and we opted for the yellow route as it measured 2.5.miles. At the beginning there were sign posts with coloured stripes indicating that we were on the right track, but these were anything but regular as we moved through the conifer woods. The weather was so changeable we had waterproofs on/ off, brollies up/down, sunglasses...mmhh.. some folk just always seem to look glamorous.... and we were down to T-shirts as it was so warm.
The map was passed around everyone and each had a different opinion of which way up to hold it. You've guessed it. We came to crossroads and with each of us still having different opinions we had to admit that we had gone astray. We were just starting to use our Girl Guide training in animal tracks and the flow of a river, when as if by some miracle, a man and his dog appeared walking towards us, obviously recognising by our gestures that we were lost. How fortunate were we? He was on the committee of the Kelty Heritage trails group and actually lived in the forest. He was such a gentleman and asked to walk some of the way with us to ensure we got back on course. John and his lovely dog Kiery told us some background to the forest and the pits which once stood there. Once back to relative safety they left us to continue on our own. Thank you John, for your kindness.
Until then, we had had a real mixture of sunshine and spits of rain, then we heard the rumble in the jungle. With little or no warning the heavens opened and we found ourselves in the middle of a rainstorm. We took shelter under the trees (photo)until it became semi-torrential at which point the prevailing view was to keep moving as were were soaked by then anyway. As we emerged from the rainforest the sun came out again and the skies were blue with fluffy clouds - bizarre. Desperate for a cup of coffee we crossed over to Kathellen where we had lovely drinks, scrumptious cakes and scones and excellent service from pleasant waitresses. Now that was a lovely ending to our walk today, which according to the pedometer was 5.4 miles - more than double what we intended. We didn't actually see any of Kelty though and not a clippie in sight.

Ceres

Oh my dogs are barking tonight!
We started off at the carpark at Ceres following part of a Hamish Brown walk. So the very first part was a wee climb up locally named Waterless Road which got the heart rate up. Rona remarked on the large stones under the grass we were walking on and hey, when we read Hamish's book (good old Hamish) he tells us that this used to be the main road from St Andrews to the Pettycur-Edinburgh ferry circa 1680. We passed beautiful wild flowers on this road; and the most gorgeous, enormous pink poppies you ever did see. We sheltered from the precipitation at Denhead farm to let the slow-coaches catch up, then downwards towards the B939 Ceres to Craigrothie road. Straight across that road we found ourselves in a narrow, glaury track which brought us out at a 17th century lectern doocot. We were passing a house/ farm and disused Corn Mill when 3 muckle (well one was muckle) dogs came barking and bounding out towards us, alarming one or two of us, I have to say. The wee photo above was taken on a packhorse bridge which formed a ford over Craigrothie burn. I think the photographer must have been standing in the burn to get that one. Moving on, we came across a wee wooden barn at Wemyss Hall Mains Farm and took shelter from the drizzle a while, then decided to have our picnic sitting on the bales of hay. That'll be the Hillbillies in the big photo above. Fed and watered, and scratching a bit, we were off again climbing another hilly stretch then on to the main road where we came across the entrance to Hill of Tarvit Mansion. We stood some time there actually,feeling sad that the house is no longer open to the public. Several of us recalled happy times there and the beauty of the grounds, the building inside and out and the treasures within. It was just too expensive for the National Trust for Scotland to keep open. HOWEVER, I have just read on the 'net that NTS will in fact open it up for a few dates over the summer so I for one will definitely pay a visit. Keeping up the momentum we walked along the main road then a detour to Whitehill farm having to climb another hill to get there. That wouldn't be the last challenge of the day. Now Hamish's book states that we should walk along the edge of a field, but he didn't say the gate would be locked and we'd have to loup it! Well some of us found negotiating this obstacle a little testing, but we didn't leave anyone behind so through the field we all traipsed getting our trousers soaked up to our thighs in the long grass in the process. Once out of the field though we began to sense civilisation once more and soon arived at Moor Road, Ceres. From there we walked through the village having a rare time nosing in everybody's gardens snatching ideas for our own. We couldn't have left the village without a visit to Griselda Hill, of course. And there she was in the shop actually painting two cats in the honey bee pattern while we were there. We didn't purchase, but chose our next birthday presents we would like from our families. And a wee wander along the road brought us back to where we started. 3.68 miles according to the pedometer; not a great distance but enough to make my plates of meat cry for mercy. Thanks to friends Lorraine, Hilda, Rona, Winnie, Irene, Grace, Mary, Joe, Janis and Dianne for sharing another lovely experience in the airts and pairts o' Fife.

Culross and Pittencrieff Park

We were feeling the heat when we reached Culross so were glad that a short sharp shower came on and cooled everyone down. Using the walk in Hamish Brown's book of 25 Fife Walks we took a left out of the carpark moving west towards Kincardine. At a very bad bend we turned off onto the entrance to Dunimarle Castle. We avoided the castle though as it seemed to be a private residence, so we wandered through the trees smelling the country air and identifying the campions, wood anemones and of course the bluebells which were out in force. Emerging from the trees we were admiring the view across to the Lothians when Sandra and Winnie spotted a ruin of a church and were beckoned by an elderly gentleman offering to tell the story of the West Church. We sat around on gravestones, some of which were dated 1620, listening to Paddy tell his tale of how his interest began in the church and how he wrote a book called the 'West Kirk.' Paddy, like Morse, only had one name and as his tale became longer, delusion became apparent. He was so passionate and knowledgeable about the church and graveyard however, it was nice just to listen to him and he clearly enjoyed the audience. We loved his cap which read ' Head Gardener.' Moving on, though not at great speed, we reached the town of Culross hoping to go into the church and abbey there. We were asked for tickets at the entrance to the church - aw, there was a concert on today. And the 13th century abbey, well, there wasn't a great deal left to view given that it fell into disrepair at the time of the Reformation, although it's gardens are beautifully manicured. Heading downwards now to Tanhouse Brae where we stopped to read an inscription on Snuff Cottage (1673) - 'Wha wad ha' thocht it?' being the first line of a couplet; the second, ' Noses ha' bocht it.'is to be found on a snuffmaker's premises in Edinburgh. The Mercat Cross itself dates from 1588 but withstood all of our group standing on it to have a photo taken. Very picturesque part of this ancient town. We proceeded down Back Causeway walking on the 'croon o'causeway', the large cobbled stones set in the middle of the road where gentry used to walk. The smaller cobbles were set lower down and intended for the commoners as that was where the town's sewage flowed through the streets. It was pleasant to walk through the town but we were getting a bit peckish so made our way back to the cars and on to Dunfermline Glen. What a glorious day in the park. There were many families enjoying the sunshine, playing rounders, football, children clambering over the old steam engine and picnics and ice creams in abundance. We remarked about Andrew Carnegie's generosity to the people of Dunfermline over a hundred years ago still giving so much pleasure to all who visit. We expected to be watching/ listening to an event in the Pavilion about Pentecost but we arrived at teatime so we missed out. We had brought our own picnic though, and a birthday cake denoting the very beginning of the Christian church, which suited us nicely. There were only 7 walkers today and we weren't really moving fast enough to burn off any calories but as always we enjoyed each others company and had a good few laughs.
I do hope Hamish Brown is working on his next book cause we're running out of walks.

Aberdour

It was peltin' this morning when we arrived at church but you could see by our mode of dress that we weren't going to let adverse weather conditions disrupt the plan to walk around Aberdour. By the time we left the church at 1.00pm there was just enough blue in the sky to make a pair of sailor's breeks (a quaint old saying eh?) so off we jolly well went.
We began the walk at Hawkcraig Rd car park and passed by the Silver Sands where a family, even in April, was enjoying the sea breezes with their picnic table up and a wind break around them. As we progressed we soon got onto the Fife coastal walk and emerged at the wee harbour where there were many boats bobbing in the calm water - very picturesque. We paused at the shore where there was a chart of the islands and the hills we were looking at across the Forth. We identified Inchmickery, Oxcars lighthouse and only just saw Cramond island as it was very misty, but very beautiful today. How lucky are we to have these places of beauty on our doorstep. We proceeded up Shore Road stopping to window shop at the wee gift shop near the top; a nice place to go for a special present. We looked at an object in the window which looked like a toast rack but was actually a letter rack with three divisions separated by large letters. One of our group (with the initial W!) asked what T-S-O-P meant and felt a proper tumshie when she realised the rack was facing the wrong way. The second half of the walk took us along the High Street and out of Aberdour towards Hillend. We took a left at the road towards Braefoot Marine Terminal from where the products from Mossmoran are exported. We got off the beaten track are soon as we could though and had a lovely walk along an avenue of daffodils and wood anemonies. The scent of wild garlic permeated the air which signified that spring is over for another year. Still on the Coastal walk we took in the lovely views of the Forth with the golfcourse in the foreground. Many people were out walking, children cyling and joggers showing off. We emerged at Dovecot Park and retraced our steps along the High St and on then to Aberdour Castle.The Castle and its grounds were at their best today, but we were keen to get to the tearoom for refreshments. We had been so looking forward to one of their magnificent scones but alas, only there were only three left so a few of us had a dissy.We had a fine old chinwag there and planned the next few walks which will be posted soon on the church website. After our cuppas we went on to St Fillans church which is the most tranquil and serene setting imaginable. We took the time to go inside the church which stood open for visitors to enter, wonder at and worship. The church, or monastery as it probably was then, dates from before 1123. Each century additions were made and the connection with St Fillan made in 1390. In the 18th century it fell badly into disrepair and became a ruin by the beginning of the 20th century. From then, there has been a history of redevelopment, the latest renovation on the roof being completed in November 2009, only 5 months ago. This is a real treasure not only of history, but of the local people's foresight and dedication to preserve this sanctuary for the people of God.
The stained glass windows themselves are worth visiting the church for. Sandra pointed out the 'leper's squint' on the west gable. This little opening is now blocked up but in Mediaeval times, peering through it was the only way disease-ridden members of the parish could attend church services. http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/aberdour/stfillans/
This website will show a little of what is in store on a visit to St Fillans. Winnie recognised that the slate on the church roof was not Scottish slate but possibly English. This may have been because before it became a Church of Scotland St Fillans was Scottish Episcopal with strong connections to the Church of England.
This was a 4 mile walk and we all felt satisfied when we returned to our cars. On days like these we are renewed by the simplicity of photographing a bee on a flower, listening to birdsong and just sharing time and conversation with like-minded people. "Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to thee."
Familiar?