Day 94 Kirkcaldy to Leuchars

 

 Date: Thursday 22^nd September 2011   Distance: 46.91 Miles

 

It was a quiet night despite being on a main road near the town centre. Muffins and toast for breakfast! We must have looked hungry. Traditional breakfast was cooked nicely and it was prompt service. We left just after 9 with recommendations to eat fish at Anstruther and to visit the forest at Leuchars. We had also bemoaned the metro road-works in Edinburgh to our landlady and she told us that no one wants it as it is just swallowing billions with an ever delayed finish date.

 

The road went steeply up out of Kircaldy when we walked past a large flour mill both sides of the road. On the sea side is beautiful  Ravenscraig Park, 85 acres given to the town from  estates belonging to the now ruined  15th century castle. The romantic ruin sits on the cliff tops and from it are extensive sea views. This was such a surprise to us that we wondered why our landlady hadn’t mentioned it, being on their doorstep so to speak.  Kirkaldy has a generous supply of public places- greens and parks and we were told that the EU played a big part in this, sharing costs with ex -mining towns.

 

We rode through the park until its end, when we took a road to Leven and the coastal path by the Links. It was a pretty ride though rough at times so necessitated a walk. Another course at Lundin seemed to extend from Leven. We came off the path here through some crater- like puddles and stopped at the top of the hill for refreshments at the hotel. We decided not to stick to the path as it was 11 already and we had done few miles because of the sand dune type terrain.

 

Lundin links is full of seaside houses and laid out gardens and as we reached Upper Largo we are close to a huge mound, Largo Law, viewed for some time this morning and a 952 feet  extinct volcano.

 

At Earlsferry and Elie we seemed to have views right across to NorthBerwick and Bass Rock. Then came St. Monans with its Gold Award (we didn’t see why others should just have bronze or silver) and promise of historic sites like the windmill used in salt panning in 18th century. We were really looking forward to revisiting Pittenweem after more than 20 years but we were a bit disappointed. We remembered villagers decorating Viking boats and pubs with loads of character. The place was quiet except for a few tourists visiting the 7th century St Fillan’s cave down the stepped (so not for the bike) Cove Wynd. The little town’s name means place of the cave. I had remembered shells but  the beach had black seams of rock, though the tide was fairly well in.

This is Pittenweem's harbour-

 

2 miles further on we stopped for lunch, as advised by several people, at Anstruther. It is reputedly the best in Scotland for fish and chips and the signs on the shop cum cafe spelt out awards achieved ( not 2011 as yet) The fish is caught and landed across the road in the harbour. We had to queue for a seat. It is a take-away, cafe and ice cream parlour and lunch time is really busy especially with school children. My elderberry wine, made locally, was nice. Our food came in cardboard cartons and it was an exceedingly long wait, especially for Bob’s coffee which had to arrive with the food (?!)  making me feel guilty about drinking my wine. The chips were lovely and crisp but the fish was very small- surely not regulation size. There was a film playing about fishing as people queued. A family business, I wonder if they are the victims of their own success.

 

Leaving we passed the Scottish Fishery Museum and later a sign for the Secret Bunker (for use of the Government in the event of a nuclear war)  as we carried on to Crail. Merely a Silver Gilt( what is it with all these awards) a splendid tableau of rockery plants depicting a crab heralded the boundary of  the town. It is certainly a pretty harbour and the town has a market cross and a variety of shops possibly with frontages dating from 1950s. I liked it and Bob had his eyes on the road.

 

It was 10 hard miles to St.Andrews with good views of the sea. There was a lovely view down to St. Andrews, with its ancient buildings, golf course and coastline. Down all the way to the harbour and then up to the12th Century ruin of the Cathedral which is huge and a big tourist attraction, we passed beside the ancient university buildings and the castle then the golf museum and Links. Opposite this and surrounded by golfing emporiums, we had a drink and warm up in a pub.

 

We rode out through the Links but then lost the Path and had to return to the road. It was very against the wind for the next 6 miles but shrubs separated us from the road until we had a separate cycleway. We saw our first swarm of geese arranging themselves for migration flight and then worryingly soon after jet planes from the RAF base at Leuchars practising landings and disappearing behind trees on the Estuary’s edge.

 

There was a lot of traffic near the Base and later in the town there is a beautiful medieval church(1180) with quite unusual architectural markings on a 3 tiered tower.

Our B and B was a little out of the town. Built in 1906 we had a separate bathroom with an original roll top bath and lead shower enclosure complete with brass fittings. Our room was cosy and the proprietors allow a separate room for people to have take- outs, as pubs in the town don’t do food. We walked a mile down the road past the golf club to St Michaels Inn where we ate well, especially Bob who had casserole of venison. Because it was dark and the road unlit we caught a bus back and were dropped at the door!  Hillspark House was a most relaxing stay though I was a bit disconcerted by the elaborate screen put up for our modesty as we went to the bathroom in the night!