Sunday, 22 February 2015

Coastwalk , Fife Coastal Path

Kirkcaldy Harbour → Lower Largo

ravenscraig.jpg Distance: 12.78 miles
Ascent: 240 metres
Duration: 3 hours 38 minutes

After Saturday night
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There's a great Sunday bus service in Fife so we were able to make an early start today.

Dropping down to the beach at Pathhead Sands we were greeted ("Y'alright, pal?") by a group of teenagers huddled round a fire beneath the crags. With music playing and a few discarded cans at their feet, they were clearly hanging onto Saturday night but didn't once make us feel threatened.

Further on we were the threat to someone else who'd not let go of the night: standing still just a few metres away a Roe deer stared at us from his exposed position before darting into the safety in Chapel Wood.

frances-colliery.jpgThe rest of the walk has been a real mixture. Just before West Wemyss a beautiful mosaic marks the point where an old tunnelled incline rises up to a disused coal mine. On the other side of the next village (East Wemyss) is a cluster of caves, one of which was previously used as a dovecot.

wemyss-cave.jpgIt started to rain as we approached Buckhaven, and with one of us having forgotten their waterproof (ahem!) there was nothing for it but to tip heads into the wind and pace onwards.

windfarm-factory.jpgI don't think we missed much in Buckhaven, Methil and Leven. The towns looked like a smaller version of Kirkcaldy with a little more class: a tall wind turbine on the dockside marks Fife Energy Park and a sign of hope for the future.

Although we'd left the car in Leven we pushed on a little further to the next pair of twin villages: Lundin Links and Lower Largo.

Notes for future walkers:

  • Just west of Ravenscraig Castle, drop down to the beach and walk beneath the castle, picking up the formal path at the dovecot to its east.
Posted by pab at 14:23 | Comments will be back one day. Please email me instead!