Sunday 10 June 2012

Walking the Fife Coastal Path

The scenic Fife Coastal Path runs around the coast of Fife for 117 miles from the Forth estuary in the south to the Tay estuary in the north.

I have walked several sections of the Fife Coastal path in the past just for my own pleasure and enjoyment,  so when I was asked recently to plan a tour for a couple who were interested in doing some walking, I suggested that they walk the most interesting sections of the Path, and I would drop them off and pick them up at intermediate points.

Entrance to the path at North Queensferry
The weather was fine for the day of the walk, which was a big bonus. We started with the Inverkeithing to North Queensferry section. It sounds a bit back to front, but by walking this section in a E-W direction you get fantastic views of the Forth Bridges.

View of the Forth Rail Bridge from the Path




Aberdour Castle
The next section was the path between Aberdour beach, known locally as "Scotland's Riviera", past Aberdour Harbour and round the headland to Silversands Bay. Good views out to Inchcolm Island from here. We then stopped at Aberdour Castle and also went inside nearby St Fillans Church.







Ravenscraig Castle 

Then we drove along the coast through Kirkcaldy and paid a visit to Ravenscraig Castle. The couple then walked through Ravenscraig park down to picturesque Dysart Harbour. We ate lunch at the cafe in the refurbished Harbourmaster's House next to the harbour.

Dysart Harbour





















MacDuff Castle
The next section walked was along the seashore from East Wemyss along to MacDuff Castle, past the famous caves in the cliffs, some of which contain Pictish inscriptions and drawings.

Following this section, we drove along to St Monans, and the couple walked to the famous Windmill once used to pump seawater into the salt pans. 





St Monans Windmill
We had hoped to go inside the windmill, but unfortunately the key had already been taken by someone else. My original plan was for them to then continue their walk along to Pittenweem, followed by a walk around Crail, but the wife requested a town visit at this point, so after St Monans, we drove to St Andrews instead.

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