East Wemyss to Lower Largo

Todays 7 mile walk covered some of the best bits of the Fife Coastal path... and some of the worst.

Things started off brightly enough at East Wemyss with our poking our heads briefly into the Wemyss Caves. These have the oldest examples of art found to date in Scotland. We didn't see any of these Pictish masterpieces, but hey it was dark.

After that we followed the coast to Macduff Castle, where we had a short sojourn. After which, it was "Onwards Macduff" to Deliverance country.

A recent development on the shore, forces you inland through Buckhaven and Methil. With inbred looking foul mouthed brats hanging around the blighted streets, the only thing missing was someone on a wall playing "The Duelling Banjos". If they ever film a post apocalyptic film and need a location, complete with mutants, they could save money shooting it here.

Leven to Lower Largo in contrast was superb with a couple of miles of beach walking providing a good antidote to the dead zone of the previous 2 miles. Walking miles of empty beach you almost fealt like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island, or like the real life inspiration for the character Alexnder Selkirk who coincidentally (not) came from our final destination for the day, Lower Largo.

Kinghorn to Ravenscraig Castle

Todays leg of the Fife Coastal Path was cut short due to the onset of showers. Not that you'd think so looking at the sea blue sky in the picture of the first of two ruined castles (Seafield Tower) we encountered.

Still, undaunted by a spell of light drizzle, we left Kinghorn behind us and moved on to Kirkcaldy and Ravenscraig Castle. En-route we encountered a small colony of seals basking in the sun and a small furry creature that disapeared into the undergrowth.

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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