Got up at 4 for solstice sunrise, but it was cloudy. Tried again the next day, then cleaned the beach towards Wemyss, and picked wild rose petals to make rosewater and added it to everything, including fancy rose jelly custard desserts.
Had a mega migraine and lots of sniffles (but negative covid tests).
Thought about Quest for Brothers spinoff novella.. though I should finish the novel first, shouldn't I.
Worked on Co-op governance and employment stuff; coworked in Edinburgh.
Started and finished Circe. Started, finally, Entangled Life.
Got a jolly rug from Furniture Plus and filled my hallway with it.
Remember the painting of Seafield Tower I saw in January at the market and been thinking about every since but never again seen the shop open? Walked into town for the Saturday market, and the shop was open, the painting was still there, and he'd knocked £15 off it :D
Went to Errol Sunday Market, which is enormous and full of treasure.
Watched the new Doctor Strange, and caught up on Stranger Things.
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.
Went to the Black Cat Cafe, and discovered many exciting new things down the far end of the High St where I don't normally go.. a new veg shop and organic food store! Also got top Kirkcaldy gossip in the cafe.
Harvested more dryad's saddle from the early warning tree.
Potted up French beans. More aubergines sprouted, and sweet peppers, better late than never. A few nasturtiums and mystery seedlings sprouted in footpath garden. Planted out tomatoes in footpath garden. Only inkycap mushrooms are coming up in the new chilli farm, but Hungarian black peppers are ripening.
Soya beans hadn't come up, and some digging around revealed they seem to have rotted. Will be contacting Johnson's..
Put yellow and pink cellophane (that I found in Furniture Plus!) in my bathroom light to make it warmer and less stark. Definite improvement.
Started a series of posts on cooking experiments from countries I've never been to. In lieu of actually travelling, and inspired by worldle generating a new inspirational country every day.
Went to the Scottish vegan festival in Edinburgh, spent about £100 on hot sauce and other tasty things, then stayed over with K&M and poor wee Lowenna who is recovering (well) from emergency surgery.
Made coconut chia puddings at the Community Kitchen, peppers stuffed with lentils and mung beans with tempeh on top, and krompirusa again.
Called the fire brigade for the first time ever. Fortunately nothing turned out to be on fire, but better safe than sorry..
K, M and Lowenna came to visit.
Dryad's saddle season is beginning. The early warning tree is fruiting, but nothing so far anywhere else. Did clean up a load of stuff from the woods when we were out looking though.
Got various little DIY things done... or partly done... door thresholds in hallway, internal kitchen cupboard improvements, clocks/hooks on the walls..
Went on an adventure to [redacted] woods in Perthshire, where we discovered large quantities of amazing shiny rocks...
Planted a load of things in the footpath garden on Friday afternoon, but was so foggy from lack of sleep that I forgot immediately what I put where. Sunflowers, nasturtiums, wildflowers, carrots and chard... I'll just have to wait and see what pops up.
My oxalis is flowering, tradescantia are taking off, inside cherry tomato has more fruit, and all four remaining chilli plants are bearing fruit or starting to flower now, despite the aphid infestation. Seeds planted in the polytunnel last week are sprouting.. french beans, romanesco, aubergine, onions.
Got up to watch planets aligning, but didn't see them. Saw sunrises instead.
Watched Y Tu Mama Tambien and The Lady in the Van.
Made a website for The Tiffin so I don't have to depend on facebook to check their menu. This was the first time I've made a simple website in years and ohemgee the state of the ecosystem. It's amazing. The CSS Grid? The browser dev tools? Lightyears ahead of what I remember.
Started another crochet project.. writing the pattern for this one.
The local 'ooligans tipped a communal paper and card recycling bin over the bank onto the beach (again) last night, so cleaning all that up at 7am was how I started my day.
Some critiques of my neighbours' paper recycling practices though.. good job to whomever flattens and packs everything inside everything else, including toilet roll tubes within toilet roll tubes... Zero points to the person putting mixed waste in a bin bag in there.
Finished Ender's Shadow, started Shadow of the Hegemon.
Lowenna went home, then Max came back By mid-week when my flat was no longer full of doggos it was quite strange. There is still fur and grime everywhere though.
Continued to work on scrapers for Woodland Trust, though we really should be wrapping this up. And did some final translation workflow wrangling ready for the BODS 0.3.0 release.
Sorted out slides and stuff for my spot on a panel about sustainability at the W3C AC meeting.
Went to the market! It's been so long. Made up for 3 weeks of missing out by buying loads of stuff. Caught up on all the local Kirkcaldy news from Real Humans instead of Online.
