And now, for a complete change of ‘pace’, we decided to walk several sections of Scotland’s Fife Coastal Path, since Vicky is from Kirkcaldy, right on the path itself and we have visited frequently. Some years ago, we stayed in a lovely small cottage called “The Chaumer” on a working farm just outside of Dalgety Bay, also on the coastal path. The Path stretches for 187 Kms along the north shore of the Firth of Forth in eastern Scotland,.from the Kincardine bridge to Newburgh on the river Tay,
For my taste, the most interesting portions of The Path lie between the towns of Culross, near the Forth Road bridges, to Crail, at the north end of ‘The East Neuk of Fife’, that set of fishing villages on the Forth, before setting off for the long (dreary) stretch of mostly empty coastline to St. Andrews.
By the way, if you are a fan of the Outlander series on Netflix, a lot of the locations were set in Fife, starting with the ancient town of Culross, the setting for the fictional village of Cranesmuir, (don’t you love the name?), close to the home-base of our hero Jamie. Culross feels and looks like it stepped right out of the 16th century with its steep, cobbled streets, and white-walled, red-roofed, step-gabled buildings – considered as one of the prettiest villages in Scotland, and… because of this, several films, including Outlander featured the town. A must visit: ochre-colored Culross Palace (really just a manor house) with tiny rooms, period contents and painted ceilings, gardens and a brood of Scottish short-legged Dumpy Hens. The nearby Town Hall once served as cells for criminals while witches were incarcerated in the attic. Hmmm.
At Torryburn, a short detour north takes you to the Tuilyies Standing Stones, a grouping of four stones, one eight feet high, the remains of a circle. The stones are said to mark the graves of bronze age chieftains who died in an alleged battle (maybe).
The hike itself is lovely. For the most part it’s flat and is clearly way-marked. There will be a bit between Crail and St. Andrews that can only be done at low tide, so beware. You’ll pass by dramatic cliffs, golden beaches, ancient caves, fishing villages and countless castle ruins. History is everywhere from 11th century churches to 19th century coal mines.
Starting at Culross, the whole will take several days to do it justice, more if you do the whole route. After marvelling at the three bridges crossing the Forth, at South Queensferry, especially the railroad bridge, built in 1890, a World Heritage Site, unique in its day – even today, the second longest cantilever bridge in the world (the longest is in Quebec city!!)… at Dalgety Bay you’ll pass right by the evocative ruins of St. Bridget’s Church and cemetery. Built in 1178, it became the property of Inchcolm Abbey (more later) in 1244. Used until the early 19th century, when the roof fell in and thus was abandoned.
A ways further is Aberdour and its castle and St. Fillan’s Kirk, one of the best-preserved medieval (Norman) parish churches in Scotland, dating largely to the 12th century, with later additions. St. Fillan’s will celebrate its 900th Anniversary in 2023. It is probably the oldest church in Scotland. At the west end of the church is the blocked-up leper’s squint (hole), as lepers were not allowed into the church for (unfounded) fears of contagion.
The castle, originally a small hall house was built around the same time as the church by Sir Alan de Mortimer, a Norman knight and is the second-oldest datable castle in Scotland (the oldest is a little keep on the West Coast). Over the centuries, the castle beheld a dizzying succession of titled owners, fights over title, plots and rebellions, honors and beheadings, fires and more plots… now, mostly a ruin, although there is one part still lived in. On the grounds of the castle stands a fine stone circular, beehive dovecot, a useful source of food in the winter months. The stone building held hundreds of breeding boxes.
From the Silver Sands beach, packed on nice summer days, with its own restaurant (bacon rolls-yum) Inchcolm Abbey is just there in the Firth on its island, a quarter mile off-shore, said to have been founded by King Alexander I, in 1123. First used as a priory, becoming a full Augustinian Abbey in the 13th century. It has the most complete surviving remains of any Scottish monastic house, with cloisters, chapter house, warming house and refectory all complete. Worth a visit from South Queensferry by ferry.
Ah Kinghorn, poor Kinghorn - (in)famous because of one accident that changed politics and led to centuries of conflict with England. Poor King Alexander III (13th century)… to have had his lady wife die in her thirties, then to lose all three of his children… decided to marry again, and did, to Yolande de Dreux, whose birthday was the 20th of March. She was staying near Kinghorn and the King was much desirous of seeing her on her special day – set off from Edinburgh Castle on a tempestuous day, crossed the Forth to Inverkeithing where his lords beseeched him to tarry at a nearby inn because of the storm, but Alexander, headstrong, decided to press on in the storm and dark…got separated from his party and was found dead the next morning with his neck broken fallen from his horse (alas poor Yorick, sorry, slipped into Hamlet). There’s a small monument to his memory by the side of the road.
On the Path to Kirkcaldy, you’ll pass lonely, broken Seafield Tower, believed to have been five stories high, with walls five feet thick, surrounded by outbuildings, sadly, no more.
Vicky’s home town is next, Kirkcaldy, the birthplace of Adam Smith and was already a thriving port in the Middle Ages, some say the name is derived from the “Church of the Culdees” – the Culdees were a group of ascetic and monastical individuals, though not taking the three vows of monks, quite influential in those days. They hewed to a Celtic rite of Christianity, as opposed to the Roman rite. By the end of the 12th century, they had lost influence and were incorporated into the Roman rite, passing into history. The shore front has a very fine, broad, 3-4 kilometre long promenade on which in late April, the Links Market, really mostly a fun-fair, makes its appearance.
Oh, and it was in Kirkcaldy that I was introduced, early on, to those two very Scottish exports: golf, that I still enjoy, kind of, and that other thing that you drink…that some people love and others hate. The Penny Farthing pub on the High Street was there in 1969, and still is. A detour is worth it, though the oldest pub in town is claimed to be the Feuars Arms.
On the way to Dysart stands the formidable Ravenscraig Castle, a ruin (of course) but a nice one, not that old, but with rounded walls built to withstand cannon fire from ships in the Forth.
In Dysart stands St. Serf’s Tower & Church, built in the 1460’s. The eighty-foot tower looks more like a medieval keep than a church and was designed that way as it comes complete with gun-loops to deter pirates.
I mean, really, where else can you go for a coastal hike and see very handsome Wemyss Castle and Gardens originally built in 1421 and the ancient seat of the Earls of Wemyss, still inhabited by the Wemyss family. Of course, it is haunted by a “Green Lady”, green being an unlucky colour in Scotland. There are any number of ruined castles and strongholds along the path, mostly surrounded by warnings about falling rocks, such as Macduff’s Castle ruin on the shore, the original seat of the Wemyss clan built in the 12th century, destroyed by Edward I of England. Even the ruin is said to be haunted by a ‘Grey Lady’, a certain Mary Sibbald, who was found guilty of theft and died in the castle, tough justice…right along the path are a number of caves with Bronze Age and, later, Pictish carvings that have been deemed of historical significance - we did not find any, though the plaques say they were there(?).
The three golf courses of Leven beckon the golfer, and a tougher set of archetypal Links courses would be hard to find, I know personally. True Links courses, right on the Forth, open to the howling winds, nary a tree to be seen, cavernous sand traps, tilted greens and cursed, I say, cursed with copious stands of gorse (a spiny, nasty evergreen bush) along the edges of the fairways, which act like a water hazard for if your ball falls in there, you can kiss it goodbye. On the second fairway of the Lundin Links Ladies Golf Club are the Lundin Links Standing Stones (these things are everywhere). Three lonely standing stones, dated to the Bronze Age, the tallest being 17 feet high. The setting on a manicured golf course was rather odd, but…
If you get a thirst with all this walking, you must drop in at the Crusoe Hotel in Lower Largo named after Alexander Selkirk, the real Robinson Crusoe who spent four years on a deserted island before he was rescued.
About here you could say that the East Neuk (neck) of Fife begins with its set of picturesque fishing villages. Pass by the lighthouse at Elie, then, did I mention that there were wrecked castles along this shore, well, near the lighthouse stands Lady’s Tower on Ruby Bay, named after Lady Janet Anstruther (remember that name) who would go swimming (brrrr) in a protected cove/cave just beneath the tower, built for her by her wealthy father – tough these Scottish lassies.
Now, if you are passing by at lunch or dinner time, a must stop is the Ship Inn on the water in Elie – very nice, we had a delicious Cullen Skink soup (yum!) as a starter – recipe on the Regional Recipes page of my website. Since it’s an Inn, you can also stay in luxury.
Then, Ardross Castle is hardly worth mentioning but Newark Castle near St. Monan’s, stands in an utterly superb location overlooking the North Sea. Poor King Alexander spent some of his childhood here. It started life in the 13th century, and, as usual, bits and pieces were added by a succession of owners, including the Anstruthers, until the 19th century, then somebody did something they shouldn’t have... add a particularly vicious storm and part of the tower collapsed – sic transit gloria mundi…
St. Monan’s Kirk is worth a look in; you could stop for a bite at the Giddy Gannet, wine bar and just east of St. Monan’s on a promontory stands a windmill. It is the last tangible reminder of an industry that provided much employment in the 18th century, the production of ‘white gold’ – salt. The windmill pumped seawater into pans, where the water was boiled away leaving – sea salt – the third largest Scottish export of the time…
…but the pretty fishing village of Pittenweem beckons, I would call it picture perfect, and blessedly free of tourists, most of whom end up in Anstruther – an even more picture-perfect fishing village, but you must stop to glance into St. Fillan’s cave, your cellphone flashlight will reveal a longish cave with an altar in the back. St. Fillan was a 7th century Irish missionary bringing Christianity to the heathen Picts and Scots – reputedly spent several years as a hermit in this cave – hmmmm – patron saint of the mentally ill, the water at the back of the cave was supposedly curative. During the Reformation period, it lost its patina and was used as a garbage dump, a storage area for nets, and reputedly a smugglers’ refuge, before being reconsecrated in the 1930s.
Right on the Path, and to give you that extra bit of sugar to push on to Anstruther, stop to get a cone at the Nicholson Ice Cream Shop.
Anstruther (remember Lady Jane) is all about the harbour, crowded with fishing boats and pleasure craft, the harbour front packed with shops and tourists - lining up at the “world famous” Anstruther Fish Bar restaurant, where you can still get your take-out meal wrapped in ersatz newspaper, sans those cancer-causing inks. Having their own fish processing plant in St. Monan’s means the freshest haddock possible is being fried just for you. They’ve received a bunch of “Best of…” awards over the years, including “Best in the UK”, among some 12,000 Fish & Chip shops in 2008-2009… or drop by The Wee Chippy, its competitor, where a sign on the window proudly proclaims that “Gluten-free Fish Available.” LOL.
But for a truly, and I mean, truly authentic Scottish Bar, you must make a small detour up to the main road to the Dreel Tavern, hard by the Dreel burn, at least to have a ‘drap’, or a full meal. The ambiance is so worth it. Featuring an open fire, stone walls, and beamed ceilings, as well as cask-conditioned ales, this is what a real pub looks like. It was Fife pub of the year in 2001. The upstairs floors are supposedly haunted (what’s new). The Dreel has been serving customers since the early part of the 18th century, on and off. I could only dream about having something comparable in Montreal or Toronto.
The Gazetteer of Scotland website offers this racey history for the castle at Anstruther: "There are also fragments of Dreel Castle, built in 1663 by Sir Philip Anstruther and visited by Charles II who described its tower room as 'a craw's nest'. This castle was the meeting place of the notorious 'Beggars' Benison of Anstruther' secret society, a "Scottish Society of an erotic and convivial nature composed of the Nobility and Gentry of Anstruther' founded in 1739". A sort of Hellfire Club akin to that of Dashwood at West Wycombe in England”. Now you know.
This might be the time to mention “marriage lintels” that appear above the doors on the oldest houses in the East Neuk of Fife. Be they but a simple inscription or an ornate affair, they contain the date of the marriage (e.g. 1597) and the initials of the bride and the groom. If the bride and groom were of ‘high’ standing, the lintel would also sport their family crests and other embellishments such as fishes, or wheat-sheaves denoting the source of their income.
Now, as I said, the East Neuk, is home to the prettiest fishing villages on any coastline - from Pittenweem and Anstruther and last but best, in my humble opinion, the most photogenic one of them all: Crail.
The epitome of a charming Fife rural town, Crail has its picture-perfect harbour with creel boats, lobster pots, sailing boats. Take a wander along its steep cobbled streets to its rustic High Street. Get a cooked-to-order lobster or crab roll at the Reilly family’s Lobster Hut by the harbour wall, caught the same day by one of the family in their boat – yum! This would be a good place to stop for a night, before pushing on to St. Andrews
At the end, you will arrive at that Mecca of golf, St. Andrew’s. After all this walking and visiting and eating and drinking, if you are a golfer, you have come to the right place. St. Andrew’s is the birthplace of golf, and the Kingdom of Fife itself abounds with over 50 golf courses. You could pay hundreds of dollars to play at St. Andrews but I preferred to get one of several golf passes and have the choice of 17 different venues to choose from. I preferred the Burntisland golf course (between Aberdour and Kirkcaldy), the eleventh oldest golf club in the world, tracing its roots to the 1790’s, a superb and challenging course.
Or, where else can you stand on the shore, on the first tee of Aberdour golf course, and what catches your eye is not your target, but the ruins of Inchcolm Abbey on its island in the middle of the Firth of Forth and beyond that - Edinburgh Castle on the far side. On a windy, sunny day, can a game of golf be better?
But, I’ll stop here, the best part of the Fife Coastal Walk is behind us.
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