I woke up with a screaming headache, so walked out of the woods to High Valleyfield, the nearest small and dreary town, to find the Co-op open before 7am. They IDed me for ibuprofen and a bottle of water, looking and feeling like absolute shit, still in the clothes I'd slept in straight from the woods. Haha. They sold me the ibuprofen anyway.
We had to hang around until Culross Palace was open. Mostly we chilled in a park nearby, and visited the gardens for a bit.
The palace was great actually. They even had a dog-volunteer (another dog) who Max could wait with while we followed the guide around inside. It's interesting how much history has been preserved here due to sheer neglect over the centuries.
We delayed further by having cake in the cafe.
We finally commenced walking. Most of the route was along roads and quite rubbish. At Newmills we met some people scavenging a door from a skip. We were about 18 hours behind our original schedule at this point, but managed to chat for over an hour about .. the environment, state of the world, reuse and recycling, litter, etc...
We took a detour towards Charlestown off the official path, because it looked like a nicer woody trail rather than a main track. So glad we did! There was a lovely stream, some interesting caves, and... We found so much chicken of the woods. We harvested it, and continued to the town. It wasn't going to survive a night in the tent and another day of walking, so we decided to just call it and get the bus home.
We went to see the lime kilns, and continue to the town of Limekilns. I wanted to press on to Inverkeithing or at least Ferrytoll, but the buses were scarce, my feet were hurting, and most of that stretch of the route was along road. So we just got the bus home from Limekilns.
So there's a stretch of the Coastal Path between Limekilns and Inverkeithing that I've never walked... I'll have to get back to that.
Took an afternoon bus to Kincardine with R and Max and the tent, and began the first segment of the Fife Coastal Path. It wasn't really very coastal. We poked around Culross when we arrived, and debated marching on for another few hours, or hanging around to visit the palace in the morning. We decided to stay. So we passed the evening with some unnecessary miles around the perimeter of Preston Island, and camped in the woods. Culross is very cute. So far this part of the rest of the coastal path has been uninspiring though.
Another hike to Lamlash, via a different inland route. Found a community woodland/orchard, and R finally hit upon agates. I had lunch and read/wrote at The Drift Inn again by myself. Staff were exceptionally kind, and found vegan mayo to go with my croquettes and mac-n-not-cheese, and a vegan chocolate for me when I went to pay the bill. I stuck my head in the Old Pier Cafe; they had some vegan stuff, but it was cramped and busy.
Some clouds provided a bit of relief from the sun, but still a beautiful day. We took the bus to Whiting Bay, then walked from there to Kildonan. We weren't sure if it was accessible along the beach the whole day and ended up doing quite a trek along a road which wasn't ideal.
From there we bussed to Blackwaterfoot, and finally managed to hike to the King's Cave. We found a fossil dinosaur foot/handprint and some excellent rock formations, and beautiful views.
We did a circular route which, once again, was longer than expected. We marched to Shiskine for the last bus back to Brodick.
R went off for one final rock hunting trip on his bike, and I wandered into Brodick. Finally got to Wooley's Bakery, which had an astounding amount of vegan options, sweet and savoury. I started with an excellent sausage roll and a brownie, and bought more things for the journey home.
Posted a postcard, cleaned up our campsite, and read and wrote on the beach until R got back. Then we headed for the ferry back to Ardrossan, and three trains home.
Max and I had a restful day to ourselves while R went off on his bike to look for rocks. We started in the Little Rock cafe in Brodick and.. stayed there reading and writing and eating for a while. Finally we got our act together and set out south around the coast, towards Lamlash. Another glorious day, and another beautiful rocky path.
The next stop on the food tour was The Drift Inn, which had several great vegan options. I had a cracking Beyond burger with melted smoked not-cheese in a pretzel bun. It was perfect, and the location was gorgeous too.
We returned via an inland route, across some hills and through a bit of woods. Then spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach.
We took the bus to Corrie, then walked along the coast to Sannox, checking out various interesting rock formations. We stopped for breakfast at Mara Deli, which was really delicious - kedgeree with crispy tofu, and excellent coffee. They have banana blossom tacos too which I was sad I didn't manage to return to try. A lovely outdoor location with a sea view, and dog-friendly.
From Sannox we took the bus to Lochranza, then embarked on a far more substantive than expected hike over the hills. It was very glorious. Max met a boxer dog called Betty who wanted to affectionately punch him in the face over and over, and he wasn't sure what to make of that.
When we finally made it to the coast, by Laggan Cottage, I read on the beach for an hour while R went off to look for fossils. Finding none, we continued, only to discover the fossils had been in the direction we wanted to walk all along.
The return route around the coast was beautiful too, a bit rugged, and I was running on fumes. We were absolutely knackered by the time we made it back to Lochranza, in time for the 5pm bus.
We got off in Blackwaterfoot, on the west side, having had the original plan to explore there as well. But we were too tired, and just waited for the next bus back to Brodick.
We got very excellent sourdough pizza (with king oyster mushrooms) from The Parlour in Brodick, as well as nice sorbet, and ate it on the beach.
Tuesday evening departure for the Arran adventure. We caught three trains to Ardrossan, then camped on some empty scrub near the port.
We awoke at sunrise for the first ferry to Brodick. A bad night's sleep - as the first night in the tent usually is - left us feeling pretty heavy, so we had a slow day. We first pitched the tent in some woods up a wee hill. It was a good out of the way spot, but it was very midgey. Subsequent scouting - after a very good breakfast at Little Rock - yielded the beach to be a much better location. We relaxed at the (very interesting) Arran Heritage museum for a while. I had a nice cup of tea and a vegan cinnamon swirl, and wrote and read, while R and I took it in turns to visit the exhibits and chill in the garden with Max.
Then we moved the tent to the beach, though were beaten to the best spot by another very smug camper by about 5 minutes.
Midges were less persistent because of the breeze, but still around, so Max slept in the tent (after what happened last time). He loves it.
It's the time of year again for a long hike. This time, through the middle of Fife to the north coast, then along the coastal path to the Tay bridge, and over to Dundee. I had thought if we were at the bridge with enough time and energy, we might continue round to St Andrew's from the other direction instead, but that was not to be. We had way points, but not a route plan, and figured it out as we went along. The result was less direct than it could have been. The weather was primarily great, and although my walking boots rebelled and were causing pain by the end of the first day, it was still a fab trek.
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The quality of the photos is atrocious; my camera is now completely out of focus on the right hand side.
Day 1: Dysart to Falkland Hill
I was absolutely convinced we could get to Pillars of Hercules by tea time, but after 12 and a half miles of walking we had barely even made it to the Lomond Hills. We followed Queen Mary's Road from Wemyss to Balgonie, went through Markinch and skirted around the east and north of Glenrothes via a little detour through Balbirnie Park, and stopped to fill up our water bottles at the Pitcairn Center, before heading towards the Lomond Hills and pitching camp at the corner of some woods, away from the main trail at the foot of East Lomond. This was all familiar territory, and we were perhaps overconfident in terms of ground we could cover, and did lots of unfocussed zigzagging.
At some point Max picked up an empty plastic bottle and decided this is much better than a ball for fetch.
We walked between East and West Lomond, along the lime kiln trail, and into the back of the Falkland Estate. We finally got to Pillars of Hercules, in time for a spectacularly disappointing not-sausage sandwich. But a nice coffee, and some communing with a friendly robin.
The accessible footpaths were not giving us a lot of options north of Falkland, and we took an indirect route to Auchtermuchty via Strathmiglio. We almost had to detour all the way to Dunshalt, but cut through a field instead. On the way into Auchtermuchty we passed through the grounds of a big fancy house, which were very nice. In Auchtermuchty itself, we looked around the high street and old buildings, said hello to friendly locals, and then I stuck my head into the one cafe in town thinking - after the Pillars disappointment - that maybe they'd have one vegan cake, for a treat. A treat! Almost all of the cakes were vegan, and there was a range of about twenty options. They had vegan cream and marshmallows for a hot chocolate, and vegan dog treats (handmade in East Wemyss!). They took a picture of Max doing 'nose' for their facebook page. Even though he was wet and muddy, and slobbered the treat all over the floor, they made him welcome. We stayed for a while, enjoying the fab treats and lovely atmosphere. The cafe - the Old Barn - is also (was originally) a furniture upcycling shop. Definitely recommend if you're in the area.. or even worth going out of the way for.
Out of Auchtermuchty and into Pitmedden Forest we went. We've been here before, but took a route through the woods which was new; one that skirts around several hills. The woods were full of downed trees from recent storms. Ancient things with huge roots which had hoisted enormous clumps of soil up into the air, and sometimes nearby fences to boot. We camped under the conifers, out of sight of the well-used track. Our longest day, at 17.9 miles.
The next stop was Newburgh, which would signify us finally reaching the banks of the Tay, and the Fife Coastal Path at last. In fact, Newburgh is the very start of the Fife Coastal Path, and I was determined to find the beginning of it. I backed up along the coast until I ran out of signs, but saw nothing of any significance. But later discovered I should have gone inland a bit, for the true start. Maybe next time. Or, close enough.
After Newburgh the coastal path goes inland. On OpenStreetMap it looks like there is a trail running right along the coast, but being somewhat time constrained and not sure exactly how accurate that was, we stuck to the signposted route. I expect to return in future to attempt the very coastal trail though. We passed along the edge of fields with lovely views over the Tay, and regular alternating between drizzly grey and warm blue skies. After Glenduckie we veered from the official path and took a shortcut through the woods alongside Norman's Law. Again, lots of downed trees.
We stopped to look around a very old and overgrown churchyard at Creich. I really wanted to camp closer to the coast, so we pressed on despite being pretty much ready to stop. We finally turned into a narrow strip of trees off the main path, and pitched the tent in a quiet spot, after a total of 14.4 miles.
Almost as soon as we got to the wood that runs along the edge of the Tay we found a far more perfect spot for a campsite. Next time! We lingered over an hour there; Max systematically destroying every one in a giant pile of sticks, and R scouring the beach for agates.
Our next stop was Balmerino village, which is super lovely! I'd move there. We looked around the grounds of the Abby, which includes a giant and stunningly gnarly 400 year old chestnut tree.
The path leads shortly to Kirton of Balmerino, and then, after longer than it feels like it should, to Wormit and Woodhaven. The weather continued to change between extremes at short notice. We passed under the rail bridge, and along the beach a way before realising we had only sheer cliffs and crashing waves in front of us; but instead of turning back to find the proper path, we dug through the undergrowth to scramble up and alledgedly disused stairway and through some spiky bushes and over a 5 foot high brick wall, to the road. It was still far to walk, mostly through the town streets, to get to the pedestrian bridge at Newport-on-Tay.
A storm cloud passed over us as we crossed the bridge, and soaked us. The bridge is infinitely long when you're on foot. Max was thoroughly unimpressed by the loud traffic on either side, and positively tore my arm off with the lead, forcing me to walk at a hitherto unforeseen pace to make it to the other side.
At last, Dundee! 12 miles on the final day. The sun promptly came back out. I made a beeline for Rad Apples but found it closed. So we summoned just enough energy to head across town to Loco Rita's, where Max was welcomed despite, once again, being wet and muddy, and we ate great vegan tacos on a comfy sofa.
Then we conked out for the hour and a half bus ride home.
