Today's walk was a coastal walk. I always love to hear, see and smell the ocean. It invigorates the senses and makes you feel so alive and connected to the landscape. Also, the view is expansive and somehow that expands the mind and draws it out, leading it to all sorts of places, known and unknown. It was my last walk before starting work. I had enjoyed the freedom of the past couple of months, but knew it could not last.
We (Tim, Elaine and I) set off from Elie, heading westwards. Now, the interesting thing, map-wise, about Elie, is that it marks a change in lettering; anything south of halfway down Glenrothes is 'NT' and anything north of the same Glenrothes point is 'NO'. I know I've not explained that very well, but don't you think that's exciting? No? Well, in my world it warrants at least a mention!
It means that I get to take photographs in both NO and NT, starting with NO and, of course the numbering begins all over again at 00 and finishes at 99, as the map of Great Britain is divided into 100 km squares. Each square is denoted by two letters and divided into ten smaller squares of 10 km each and then, to give further accuracy, into 1 km squares. Got it? If not, it's probably because I've not explained it very well. I just photograph the squares without thinking about the technical issues. Much more interesting that way!
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| Elie Church - NO4900 |
Although I sound ridiculously excited about all this numbering and lettering lark, at the time I hardly give it a thought and it's only afterwards that I momentarily think "Ooh, I moved into NO or NT." And then instantly, "So what?!"
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| Pink house in Elie - NT4899 |
Having made such a fuss about all this lettering nonsense, I now have to confess that, rather than celebrate my transition into NO territory, I completely forgot to take a photograph as we ambled through the pretty streets of Elie. Shocking!
We moved back in to NT territory and walked towards the old chapel. Strictly speaking this medieval ruin is in the village of Earlsferry and is thought to have been built next to a hospital, which was attached to a nearby monastery, to tend to poor travellers who were on their way to St Andrews Cathedral.
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| Old Chapel, Earlsferry. NT4899 |
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| View east from Old Chapel, Earlsferry, NT4899. |
This is a beautiful spot for a place of worship, whatever its history. I love thinking of the constancy of the sea, the pull of the tide of centuries and millennia whilst everything around it has changed beyond recognition.
We walked on westwards onto Earlsferry beach and the next gridsquare.
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Earlsferry Beach and Kincraig Point, NT4799.
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We stopped at some rocks to have our picnic lunch and contemplated the Elie Chain Walk which begins here. Feeling brave we decided to see how far we could go.
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| Elie Chain Walk notice. NT4699 |
Despite all the warnings, we were not entirely put off and decided we'd return for a trial another day at lower tide and with reinforcements (in the form of my children). For now, we satisfied ourselves with admiring the coastal scenery.
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| Natural arch near Kincraig Point. NT4699 |
In order to get onto the cliffs, we had to retrace our steps a little and choose the line of least resistance. For future reference, it is better to go back further than we did to the proper steps. We ended up climbing up a very steep cliff to rejoin the coast path. It was not much fun, but it certainly got the heart beating so must have been good for us!
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| Earlsferry beach in mist. NO4700 |
It was now quite misty after a brighter start, but the views were still spectacular.
At Kincraig there are relics of WWII and a trigpoint, which made our visit more interesting. Apparently there was a battery here, the guns of which were removed in 1956 and the stands are now all that remain, but there was also a radar observation post, a searchlight emplacement and a battery operation post, the relics of which survive today.
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| Kincraig Radar Observation Post. NT4799 |
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| Kincraig Gun Battery. NT4699 |
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| Kincraig trigpoint. NT4699 |
The Fife Coast Path hugs the coast here, high above the platform of rocks far below.
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View of coast from Kincraig. NT4699
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We didn't see much of Shell Bay as we decided to head inland from here to make it a circular walk.
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| Shell Bay, with Ruddons Point in the background. NO4600 |
I was back in NO land and snapped a photo of Shell Bay with Ruddons Point in the background. I later discovered a photo I'd taken several years ago of Ruddons Point, which, if it's not too much like cheating I'll include here. No, I won't; changed my mind. I'll do that part of the Fife Coast Path at some point and include it then.
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| Footpath inland from Shell Bay. NO4600 |
We returned eastwards now, following the footpath inland to the car park at the caravan site and then following a path at the southern edge of the plantation and watching a plethora of ladybirds come out to enjoy the late afternoon apricity.
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| Ladybirds enjoying winter sunshine. NO4700 |
A large ruin caught our eye at Grange, one we would not be passing today. I find it hard to resist going to explore a nice old ruin, so this was difficult for me. They were in the same 1 km gridsquare but a goodly distance away on a different footpath.
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| Grange and Grangehill. NO4700 |
In the next gridsquare, however, we were rewarded for our resolve not to deviate ruinwards, by another ruin at St Ford. This time we did go and investigate and look what we found!
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| St Ford Cottages. NO4701 |
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| Old VW beetle at St Ford Cottages. NO4701 |
It was a bit of a unexciting trudge back to Elie along the road from here. This was the same gridsquare I neglected to take a photograph of at the beginning of the walk and I can't believe I forgot to do so again at the end! It had been a lovely walk with lots to see and with a lot of history.
Number of new gridsquares: 8
Number of gridsquares I could have got: 9
Number of miles walked: 6
Walk worth repeating: Yes, and remember to photograph NO4800 and visit Grange ruin
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