Hot on the heels of our walk along the Fife Pilgrim Way, as featured in the previous blog, dad and I set out on the Fife Coastal Path. Again we did this as day walks completing the stages in order and using public transport to link everything up. Dad didn't want to do the full trail so we settled instead for a bridge to bridge Fife Coastal Path walk, starting at North Queensferry at the Forth Bridge and ending with a walk over the Tay Bridge to Dundee. The coastal path was varied, surprisingly beautiful in some places and more rugged than you might guess in other places.
Our first leg took us under the spans of the mighty Forth Rail Bridge along the coast to Aberdour. The route stayed close with the shore, dipping into woods every now and then, with our southerly horizon dominated by the city skyline of Edinburgh on the other side of the Firth of Forth. Moody, autumn skies rested above the undulating line of the Pentland Hills beyond the city.
For our next stage, we left Aberdour in pouring rain and a bleak atmosphere to pick our way along the coast to Burntisland then Kinghorn. The sun obliged by breaking through eventually in time for our picnic stop.
The coastal path after Kinghorn is well known to us and always a delight, no matter the time of year. There are seabirds and seals offshore, fascinating rock formations, summer wildflowers and views up and down the Forth. The path eventually joined the promenade in Kirkcaldy which had a lively vibe with walkers, runners and cyclists all making use of the space. We ended this section of our walk at Dysart at its lovely old harbour.
After here was one of dad's favourite sections as the path stayed close to the beach but also passed through beautiful, coastal woodland. It was early summer now. The trees were full with their fresh green leaves and wildflowers formed a colourful carpet either side of the trail. The woods felt surprisingly wild even though our end point for this stage was just ahead in Leven.
It's probably the scenery beyond Leven that the Fife Coastal Path is best known for as the trail passes along pleasant beaches and calls in at the pretty little harbours and fishing villages of the East Neuk. We broke this section up into stages using buses at Elie and Anstruther.
Beyond Anstruther, the route takes on an all together more rugged character with some challenging walking. There are caves to explore, weird rocks and pristine, wild beaches at Fife Ness which itself feels like a remote, rugged headland poking out into the North Sea. Along this part, there are also a couple of tide dependent sections with scrambling over boulders required. The first of the tidal sections we got through by the skin of our teeth and with one wet foot ahead of high water.
More rocky shoreline eventually brought us out at a stunning snowdrop-filled river gorge (it was February at this point) and a pleasant walk into Kingsbarns. The next two stages, Kingsbarns to St Andrews then St Andrews to Leuchars, were less exciting but it was fun to cross paths in St Andrews with our Fife Pilgrim Way walk.
Out of Leuchars, the coastal path is quite far inland as it crosses the wooded expanse of Tentsmuir forest. There was a very pretty section just before the pinewoods that meandered across lightly wooded scrub land and crossed bogs on boardwalks. After hours of walking through the forest, we eventually popped out on the shoreline of the Firth of Tay, looking over to Broughty Ferry where we had lived as a young family. This leg we finished at Tayport, our last staging post of the walk.
The very last section of our walk took us out of Tayport on the old railway line, now re-purposed as a walking and cycling trail. The end was in sight as we headed west. Looking over to Dundee, it rose above the waters of the Tay framed by the Sidlaw Hills behind. A mirror image of our first day on the walk when Edinburgh rose above the Forth with the Pentland Hills as backdrop. A walk over the Tay Bridge brought us into Dundee and the end of our Fife Coastal Path journey.
Much like the Fife Pilgrim Way, the walk had been really varied and full of delights and surprises. But it also passed through places of incredible beauty that we probably don't associate with Fife. There were the obvious pretty villages of the East Neuk but also gorgeous beaches, a wild headland and ancient woods and caves. Again, we made great memories from the places, perspectives and picnic stops.
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