Aberdour to Kinghorn

Resuming the walk from where we left off last week at Aberdour train station, we made our way down the coast to Kinghorn via Burntisland. On the way we passed a monument to Alexander III, last Celtic king of Scotland. In 1286 the 44 year old king died in a fall from horseback in the dark traveling to visit the queen, at our destination for the day, Kinghorn. He was later buried in Dunfermline Abbey.

There's a theory that Alexander was desperate for a bit of royal nookie and that it was this that caused him to ride like a bat out of hell in the dark, become separated from his escort and make like an Italian footballer over the edge. The queen must have been some kind of woman.

Although there's no cliff at this spot, there is a steep embankment and it's thought his horse lost its footing sending him to his doom.

As an aside Alexander was coronated on Moot Hill, Scone. But that's a moot point.

As you can see from the above picuture, 15 miles into the walk, we're not flagging yet.

Aberdour

A tad slow for 8 miles, clocking in at just under 4 1/2 hrs.

Still Rome wasn't built in a day and we will get fitter. Fitter, stronger, faster.

North Queensferry

The Fife Coastal Path runs from the Forth Bridge at North Quensferry in the South to the Tay Bridge in the North.

Running for a total of 81 miles it is one of the footpaths included in Europe's North Sea Trail. The North Sea Trail is being created by the NAVE Nortrail Project, which is partly funded by the European Union. This currently has sections in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and of course the UK.

"Are you feeling fit?", Paul asked Calvin.

North Queensferry train station. An unusual pipe that goes nowhere. And they're off!

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5 Year Mission

You can't beat a good mission statement to get you in the mood to get going. The other night I hunkered down with the Bunman, drank some tea, watched a movie, drank some more tea and finally came up with one for Stroll On.

"Our 5 Year mission, is to complete all the official Scottish long distance footpaths, plus a few more for good measure, then have a nice cup of tea and a sit down."

Why five years you ask yourself? Well if it's good enough for James T Kirk it's good enough for me.

So without further ado here's the cunning plan we came up with.

2007
The Fife Coastal Path 81 miles (130 km)
As it's on the doorstep this is as good a place to start as any. The Fife coastal path starts off at Ian Banks's favorite bridge (The Forth bridge) and continues on to the Tay bridge in the North. The 13 1/2 mile stretch between Crail and St Andrews is the most desolate, with a river to ford and miles of rocks to clamber across.

Difficulty - easy to hard (that'll be the Crail bit that will).

The Speyside Way 84 miles (135 km)
The first of Scotland's four official long distance footpaths, the Speyside way meanders down from Buckie on the east coast to Aviemore. This country is whisky country so I've no doubt a drum or two will be consumed en-route.

Difficulty - generally pretty easy

2008
The Great Glen Way 73 miles (117 km)
The second official long distance route, the Great Glen way starts in Inverness and gos on to Fort William mainly by the side of Loch's (including Loch Ness) and the Caledonian canal.
What's that coming over the hill..

Difficulty - easy

The Rob Roy Way 92 miles (148 km)
Rob Roy, see the movie, steal the sheep, do the walk. Well maybes not the sheep bit but the rest sounds good. The Rob Roy way cuts a swathe across the Southern Highlands of Scotland, from Drymen to Pitlochry. At the end if you're really enthusiastic (aka insane) you can jump the Soldiers Leap to celebrate. Celebrate until your body hits the rocks in the gorge that is.

Difficulty - unknown (I'll update this when we've done it)

2009
St Cuthberts Way 62 miles (100 km)
Down into the borders for this one, walking from Melrose (allegedly the place where King Arthur is having an extended kip) to Lindisfarne (Holy Island). The last stretch will need to be timed right or the final walk over the causeway to the island could end in a swim if the tide comes in.

Difficulty - unknown (I'll update this when we've done it)

The Kintyre Way 103 miles (166 km)
Cue Paul McCartney (no not the frog song)... The Kintyre Way is more of an island walk than anything else, launched in 2006 and stretching from Tarbert at the north end of the peninsula, to Southend in the south, the Kintyre Way criss-crosses the peninsula in a criss-crossy sort of way. At least the mist blowing in from the sea should cool us down while mulling over what to do next.

Difficulty - easy to hard

2010
The West Highland Way 95 miles (152 km)
Third of the official Scottish long distance walks and a bit of a killer in places, the West Highland Way gives you a good taste of the highlands. Starting in Milngavie, the West Highland Way ambles past some stunning scenery before ending at Fort William, near Ben Nevis.

Difficulty - moderate but a bit of killer in places

2011
The Southern Upland Way 212 miles (341 km)
The Southern Upland Way, the final frontier to traverse to complete our mission.

The Southern Upland Way is Scotland's longest long distance walk. Last of the official Scottish long distance footpaths and some serious potatoes to take on at the end of our trek.

The astute amongst you may have noticed a trend in the sequencing of these walks, with the level of difficulty gradually ramped up with each. The theory is that our fitness levels will increase in parallel with our perambulations, so by theory by this stage we should be lean mean walking machines and ready to take on anything. So this walk across desolate moorland, huge forests, mountains and rugged coast land should now be like a walk in the park. A park filled with desolate moorland, huge forests, mountains and rugged coast land that is.

Bring it on !!!

Difficulty - strenuous, severe in places.


You'll be able to see how we get on courtesy of this blog over the coming years. Marvel at the ripping yarns and tales of daring do. Gasp at the awesome scenery encountered. Watch on in awe as we boldly go where large numbers of men, women, dogs and small round furry animals that squeak, have already gone before.

Watch this space. The final frontier.

For a Few Dollars More

To kick off the walks chronicled on the Stroll on Blog, I made the short trip to the Ochil hill foot town of Dollar with my son Calvin and Paul (a.k.a. the Bunman).

After parking in the local pub car park, the council in their infinite wisdom having halved the number of parking bays near the river, we ascended to Castle Campbell up the Burn of Care. The oldest part of the Castle dates back to the sixteenth century and has been frequented in times gone by, by both Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox. To the best of my knowledge neither had problems with their parking. In those days coaches and horses were allowed to park side by side and not forced end to end into ridiculously wide bays.

We descended via the less arduous Burn of Sorrow, stopping only to take the obligatory castle pictures. It's unlikely that either burn suffers from vampires as the air was heavy with the smell of wild garlic. Any sharp toothed creatures of the night would soon be held to 'ransom' by the whiffy aroma.

This didn't however discourage the obligatory dipper that as usual decorated the rocks in midstream a fetching shade of white, or the strange yellow bird (later identified as a grey wagtail) that flew off before we could get a closer look. Best not say any more on the subject in case the town is beset by a plague of Twitchers.

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