Hill of Tarvit, Ceres, Clatto - 02/02/2019

My walk today was nearly abandoned due to the snow. I couldn't get up some roads and ended up driving on I knew not where. I know I parked somewhere different than I'd intended, reasoning that it wouldn't matter as long as I parked somewhere on my route.

Clatto Farm turn off. NO3407.

It's wonderful how snow transforms an otherwise mundane scene. The whole world was twinkling under its cold blanket. Booted and wrapped up, I turned off towards Clatto Farm.

Bridge in Clatto Den. NO3507

Past Clatto Farm, I followed signs for the Fife Pilgrim Way, not realising that this was a new route, not even officially opened yet. There were lots of animal tracks in the snow, but no other human footprints.

Clatto Reservoir was covered in a pristine layer of snow. NO3607.

Umbellifers were decorated like Christmas baubles.

I stopped for a cup of tea along the road to the reservoir. I think that was where I'd originally intended parking. Clatto Reservoir is a nature reserve, but I don't remember seeing much on it today with all the ice and snow.

Clatto Reservoir Sign. NO3708

At Muirhead, I turned off northeastwards towards Ceres. I noticed the Hill of Tarvit here, perhaps for the first time ever. I'm not sure I realised that's what it was or that it was one of my destinations of the day.

Hill of Tarvit from near Struthers. NO3708

A huge flock of Skylarks accompanied me through the fields. I don't think I've ever seen as many as this before. There must have been several hundred.

Several hundred Skylarks near Struthers. NO3708.

After crossing the A916 there was another surprise in store for me. A Heritage Path Sign, indicating that this was the Waterless Road which Archbishop Sharp would most likely have used on his way from Kennoway to St Andrews in 1679.

Waterless Road Sign. NO3809.

The name 'Waterless Road' intrigued me, so I did some research later and discovered that the path or road follows a ridge to avoid the boggiest land. This naturally meant there was a distinct lack of water for travellers or livestock. Old roads such as these often had water sources for travellers, but this one seems to be one of the exceptions.

There is an excellent website dedicated to Scotland's Heritage Paths.

Waterless Road in winter. NO3809.

Waterless Road in winter. NO3810

I was nearly in Ceres now, another first for me and I caught a glimpse of this lovely village through the trees.

Ceres Village and Church from Woodburne Road. NO3911

I emerged at the northern end of Waterless Road into the beautiful village of Ceres where an ancient bridge caught my eye. It was the Bishop's Bridge (written in that Old English font on the map), so named because it is said that Archbishop Sharp rode across it on his fateful journey to St Andrews before being murdered at Strathkinness by a group of Covenanters. The Covenanters had been persecuted to death or 'murder' in many cases, and the Archbishop was implicated in many of these executions. Whilst his death was greeted with joy by many, it did not end the religious persecution which became known as the Killing Times.

Bishop's Bridge, Ceres, NO4011

The bridge is cobbled and very narrow and I have since read that the Archbishop and his coach and four would not have fitted across the bridge. It is much more likely that he crossed the river by means of a ford slightly to the north of this bridge.

I wasn't thinking about this as I approached the Fife Folk Museum though. There is a cafe at this museum and it was their very first day of opening for the season. I was in need of hot soup on this oh so cold February day. It was their very first day of opening and I enjoyed some hot soup and a conversation with a couple who had been partly responsible for the opening of this wonderful local resource. The museum remained closed until April so I would have to wait a bit longer to discover more about the area.

Fed and watered, I donned all my layers again and bade farewell to everyone in the packed cafe. I'm always glad to see local facilities well used like this. Resisting the temptation to explore this historic village, I picked my way northwestwards to Bridgend, where I turned left onto Wemysshall Road. I did not enjoy this section of the walk as the road was surprisingly busy and there was no footpath. There is a quieter approach to Hill of Tarvit from the north, which I would use on another occasion.

At least I got a good view of the House of Tarvit from this angle.

House of Tarvit. NO3811

There were quite a few people out walking today and it was a glorious day for it, provided you were wrapped up well. There were not so many people walking up the hill to the monument. I was the only one at the time, although there were plenty of other footprints in the sprinkling of snow up here and children were sledging further down the hill.

Despite its relative landmark status, little is known about the monument on the Hill of Tarvit. I as glad to sit a while, consider taking a lone glove that had been left (I didn't) and take in the view. There is one of those wonderful toposcopes (but not a circular one) up here, some of it now illegible, so you can work out what you can see.

There is also a trigpoint, which was my third Fife trigpoint (I'm also intending to collect all the Fife pillar trigpoints; I think there are 54).

Hill of Tarvit monument and trigpoint. NO3712

View south from Hill of Tarvit. NO3712

I descended the way I'd come until I got to the car park and then took a right turn back to the A916 north of Craigrothie and the Waterless Road. This time I crossed the road and went straight across to the Scotstarvit Tower. I had no idea what this was and have subsequently discovered there's almost as little information about this place as there was about the Hill of Tarvit monument. It dates from the 1500s and belonged to Sir John Scott. It is only open to the public in the summer months so there was no point in my visiting it even if I'd wanted to today.

Scotstarvit Tower. NO3711

I couldn't find the path marked on my map taking me west, where I hoped to find Lady Mary's Wood and tomb, so ended up walking to Chance Inn. I expected to find a pub here, but it is a small village and I didn't take any photos because I wasn't really doing my 'gridsquare bagging' then. I was also disappointed about not getting to Lady Mary's Wood and trying to work out from the map how I might still be able to do it without prolonging my walk too much more. I wanted to get back to the car before it got dark as driving conditions were a little treacherous.

At Findas Knowe I bumped into a couple and asked about Lady Mary's Wood. They said they remembered their grandmother exploring in that wood once and finding a human skull, "but you can barely get in there now," they went on, "not from this direction anyway. You're better parking on the A914 and walking from there."

I decided I would have to leave this potential adventure for another time and continued walking along the road past Waltonhill, where I noticed a disused railway line in the fields below the road.

Disused railway line at Waltonhill. NO3609.

I emerged at a crossroads, where I spoke briefly to a man who asked where I had been walking that day. "A long way," I replied as I turned left and back to my car.

Number of miles walked: 12
Number of gridsquares photographed: 11
Number of trigpoints: 1
Number of mysterious monuments: 2
Walk worth repeating: Yes