This walk shall always be remembered as a 'Where were you when?' moment - for reasons that will be explained later if the more astute (and you'd have to be astute) reader has not already picked up on it.
I think I chose Auchtertool as my starting point because the name had long intrigued me. The village itself was outside my initial choice of gridsquares to conquer, being too far west, but most of the walk would be on the westernmost boundary of my arbitrary line and it wasn't too far to travel on the ice cold day that it was. I parked the car on the street and, donning my new ice grips, I set off cautiously into the unknown.
It was more like the unknown than I'd have wanted as it turned out because after a year of not really needing Memory Map on my new phone, I wasn't familiar with how to use it and consequently hadn't installed the correct map for the area. Should I go home and give up before I'd started? That would perhaps have been the sensible thing to do, especially given the icy conditions. I'm very glad now that I didn't. With my mind racing as to my various options, I remembered a friend talking about the Ordnance Survey app which was exactly like Memory Map, except I'd have to pay all over again. What's a little cash in ice cold conditions? So, with ice cold fingers and very little signal, I stood on the streets of Auchtertool and managed to download the app. Success! Hurrah! The only problem now was that I would be relying on memory for the route as I usually have it drawn out pre-walk. I blame that for the first wrong turn of the day.
That wrong turn, however, did mean I gained an 'extra' benchmark, one I had not plotted (thankfully I had downloaded the benchmarks into my GPS so all was not lost) So I photographed my first benchmark at the former Auchtertool Warehouse.
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| Benchmark, Auchtertool Warehouse - NT2190 |
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| Auchtertool Warehouse - NT2190 |
I should, however, have been walking north rather than south-east. I cut across a housing estate and walked to a field and the dismantled Kirkcaldy District Railway Line and then headed north until my way was barred by the fast flowing Dronarchy Burn. I was so tantalisingly close to what looked like a path that led to Clentrie Farm but I could see no other way to join the path. I took a photo of the ruined West Clentry farmhouse basking in apricity and then reluctantly turned round.
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| West Clentry - NT2190 |
I followed the former railway line as far as I could, having resigned myself to going the long way round to Clentrie Farm.
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| Former Kirkcaldy District Railway Line at Auchtertool - NT2290 |
My way was barred again, however, by the existence of some sort of yard - impenetrable it seemed, so once more I retraced my steps and turned reluctantly onto the B925. "I'd have made more progress if I'd just walked along the road in the first place," I muttered miserably to myself. It had taken me nearly an hour to walk 3/4 of a mile!
Thankfully, my prayers for a footpath sign towards New Cottoun were answered and I walked brazenly on past farm traffic as if I hadn't spent the last hour in near defeatism. "Be careful up there,"the farmer at Centrie Farm said, looking worryingly at my massive rucksack. I smiled broadly and pointed to my new ice grips, "It's OK, I've got studs," I replied and walked confidently on, praying that I wouldn't now fall flat on my face.
Those studs were a potential life saver actually. They gave me confidence to walk on the ice. There's no doubt I wouldn't have been able to do this walk without them and, as already hinted, that would have been a disaster!
I stopped for a coffee break at Camilla Loch. I'd only walked 2 miles, but I felt I deserved it. Besides there were some ducks on the loch - mainly Wigeon but a few Teal and Mallard as well.
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| Camilla Loch - NT2291 |
The way ahead continued to be icy but I had every confidence in my new ice grips as I walked by Knockbathy Woods and Shawsmill in the next gridsquare.
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| Road north towards Shawsmill - NT2292 |
I crossed the Gelly Burn and ended up at a T-junction where I turned right.
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| Gelly Burn - NT2292 |
I was now in a new gridsquare and approaching another benchmark. It's hard to describe the excitement of discovering these obsolete carvings. I fancy I would have liked to have had the job of carving that important arrow into all manner of material and structures - bridges, police stations, living stone, houses (not quite so exciting), churches, milestones . . . Of course I would feel as if I was harming and hurting a living organism, so maybe it wouldn't be such a relaxing job after all.
Anyway, the benchmark on Shawsmill Bridge is one of my favourite types - a rivet benchmark, which means there's a lovely copper rivet together with the arrow. These sort are typically found on culverts and bridges.The rivet appears to have disappeared from this particular benchmark, although the indentation can still be seen.
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| Rivet on Shawsmill Bridge - NT2293 |
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| Shawsmill Bridge - NT2293 |
Stopping to look for this benchmark was a bit dangerous as there were traffic lights controlling single file traffic across the bridge, probably due to flooding. Fortunately the benchmark wasn ot too difficult to find. Then I was glad to turn into Carden Den.
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| Entrance to Carden Den - NT2293 |
The Gelly Burn wends it way through this den, which was deserted of any living thing save me on this icy afternoon - for it was afternoon by now. The path was frozen solid, the sky featureless and the air damp but I did spot a Treecreeper making its circulatory way up a Birch Tree and that made the walk worthwhile.
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| Carden Den - NT2293 |
Soon I was walking under the busy A92 and then I was on the north side of the A92 and turning off this pleasant track to reach the northernmost point of my destination today.
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| Approaching the A92 - NT2293 |
Three Mute Swans were resting by a flood in a field at Cardenbarns.
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| Cardenbarns and its three Mute Swans - NT2294 |
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| Cardenbarns' Three Mute Swans - NT2294 |
I was walking now on the south side of Sunnyside Plantation towards my final destination - the trigpoint, but there was another benchmark to be found before then. And this would be one of the most difficult I have found. How I love these challenges. I always feel a bit guilty about scraping off moss to reveal a benchmark, but there's such a feeling of satisfaction to be gained when you 'liberate' a benchmark. This one was amongst brambles and under moss on a crumbling wall away from the path so only the most dedicated of benchmark hunters was ever going to find it. Step in, Becky, with y our benchmark detecting/cleaning kit, aka fingernails or piece of broken twig (being very careful not to grasp a bramble stem in your keenness). Hey presto! Another benchmark bagged!
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| Site of the Sunnyside Plantation benchmark - NT2394 |
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| Sunnyside Plantation benchmark - NT2394 |
I scrambled perhaps unnecessarily up some steep rocky outcrops to reach the trigpoint. If I'd carried on leisurely eastwards I would have bagged another gridsquare and perhaps found an easier route. Never mind, I sat near the trigpoint with my lunch and there's not very much to report here except I reckon I must have bagged about half of Fife's pillar trigpoints. There's no easy way of working this out.
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| Keir Brae trigpoint - NT2394 |
I followed the north path back through Sunnyside Plantation and turned left just before rejoining my outward path. I was now walking over the A92 on a bridge and back into Carden Den, but the east side of it this time.
Almost immediately there was a sign informing me that I was at the site of Scotland's last fatal duel. This was more like it, a bit more drama to the day was just what I needed! I have copied this story from
Secret Scotland's website:
The last fatal duel in Scotland took place in a field to the west of Kirkcaldy, Fife, on August 23, 1826.
The two men involved were David Landale, a linen merchant and pillar of the community, and George Morgan, a banker with a fiery temper who was a retired Lieutenant from the 77th Regiment of Foot.
The pair had quarrelled over a bank loan, and the banker had spread rumours about the merchant's creditworthiness. In response, the merchant took his business elsewhere, and addressed a stiff letter of complaint to the Bank of Scotland headquarters in Edinburgh.
The matter might have ended there, but Morgan came across Landale in Kirkcaldy's High Streer, and hit him about the head with his umbrella while shouting "Take that, sir. By God, sir, you shall more of this yet!"
Landale fled the attack, but not before replying with "You are a coward, sir, a poor, silly coward."
The assault in public by one gentleman on another left Landale with no alternative, and he immediately wrote to Morgan, challenging him to a duel "I must request that you will meet me tomorrow morning at seven o'clock... with pistols and give me the satisfaction which as a gentleman I am entitled to."
The duel had arisen from the age of chivalry, after the aristocrats had lost their armies, and developed through fighting with sword into pistol in more recent times. Landale, however, was a novice shot and had to acquire pistols for the confrontation, arrange for seconds, and put his affairs in order the day before the duel.
The two men met in the field at Cardenbarns, to the south of Cardenden, where Morgan refused the opportunity to apologise for his public assault on Lansdale.
According to the code which had developed to regulate such confrontation, defining where the combatants should stand, what they should wear, and how and when they should fire, the seconds acting for Landale and Morgan agreed the terms of the duel. The pair stood 12 paces apart and, on command, fired simultaneously.
Morgan staggered and slumped to the ground, blood pouring from his mouth, fatally wounded.
Landale, the novice, had fired straight and true at his target - immediately, he fled the scene.
The last fatal duel fought on Scottish soil was over.
Landale fled to England and the Lake District to avoid arrest, where he adopted an alias and kept a low profile.
He wrote to the legal authorities, promising to appear at his trial, and one month after the duel, was tried for murder in Perth where he was acquitted "with character unsullied".
Remarkably, some 25 years later, the Landale and Morgan families were reconciled when David Landale's daughter married George Morgan's nephew.
Both men are buried within 100 feet of one another in the Auld Kirk churchyard, Kirkcaldy.
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| Site of Scotland's last fatal duel near Cardenden - NT2293 |
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| David Landale's grave, Auld Kirk, Kirkcaldy (not visited on this occasion) |
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| David Morgan's grave, Auld Kirk, Kirkcaldy (not visited on this occasion) |
I love stumbling on interesting pieces of information like that. Who'd have thought that Scotland's last fatal duel was fought in a place that few people have heard of and even fewer can properly pronounce?
But my history lesson for the day was not yet over. Within a few yards of this historical scene, a small sign pointed towards Cardenden Tower. I'd seen this marked on the map in that tantalising Old English font so was glad of a path to lead the way.
A small detour was involved, but it was worth it. An information board tells the story of this now barely visible structure. It was erected in the 16th Century as a small tower house, containing at least three stories. King James VI granted its ownership to George Martene (whoever he was). The tower became ruinous over the years. In 1725 Ferguson of Raith inherited the estate of Cardoune, who prohibited the removal of its stones.
Excavation work revealed a one metre diameter well of fine architectural work. Sadly this had been filled in with demolition material following the tower's abandonment shortly after 1700. Cardenden Local History Group have undertaken the care and excavation of this site, although it looks as if nature is gradually reclaiming this historical site as its own. There is little left to see.
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| Information board at site of Cardenden Tower - NT2293 |
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| Site of Cardenden Tower - NT2293 |
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| Remains of Cardenden Tower - NT2293 |
Pensively I left this site and entered a new gridsquare. I walked along a very straight, icy track through Beaton's Wood. This eventually came out at the road I'd left hours before just after Shawsmill Bridge.
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| Straight, icy track through Beaton's Wood - NT2393 |
I was now almost in familiar territory as I had walked near here almost exactly a year before in February 2020 in my
Of Folly and Follies post and would be rejoining my exact track at Bankhead of Raith.
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| Uneven track to Bankhead of Raith - NT2392 |
The track was frozen solid and very uneven, making it hard going, but probably a lot easier than it would have been without the hard coating of the frost. I was glad to reach the derelict farmhouse at Bankhead of Raith, where it looked like potential renovation work was underway, at least at some of the outbuildings. I will need to return to see its renewed status.
At Lambswell Folly I left the familiar territory to wander through Lambswell Wood.
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| Lambswell Folly - NT2392 |
Oh, how the straight line doth bend the truth! The track drawn by my GPS belies the ordeal I went through on entering these foreign parts for the path ended abruptly and I was left to find my own slippery way through these dark woods, where the distant sound of gun shot did nothing to calm my nerves.
I literally slipped and stumbled through these woods in search of the path, which was so clearly marked on my map. I knew I wasn't the first one ever to have walked this way - the pheasant feeders were testimony to that fact. Still, it felt rather like it as I made my way through the thicket to try to locate a benchmark. I was glad to find myself in more open terrain for my search. This turned out to be my second amazing benchmark find of the day (after Sunnyside Plantation). I had given up my search and decided to continue on my way when I saw it on the other side of the wall - no moss removal required!
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| Lambswell Wood benchmark - NT2391 |
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| Site of Lambswell Wood benchmark - NT2391 |
There was now a track all the way back to the B925, leading past derelict West Balbarton and another benchmark.
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| Benchmark at West Balbarton - NT2391 |
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| Derelict West Balbarton - NT2391 |
I had originally hoped to walk back along the former railway line, but, knowing now that was not possible after my attempt at the beginning of the walk, I was resigned to walking along the B road. These are always more busy than you think they're going to be. And this was no exception. I sneaked into a field for a stretch as it was very unpleasant walking along the road.
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| Approaching Newbigging from field parallel to B925 - NT2390 |
I was glad to finally reach a pavement, the sound of human voices and the sight of living people going about their daily business after my excursion into the historical world of duels and dereliction.
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| Newbigging and Auchtertool in the distance - NT2390 |
Postscript: I had just stumbled through my front door upon returning from this walk when my older brother phoned. He told me it was a good job I'd been for a walk today because "as from today we're in lockdown." I shall therefore always remember this walk as my 'Where were you when'm oment when people discuss these lockdowns in years to come"!
Number of miles walked: 11
Number of new gridsquares: 10
Number of benchmarks: 5
Number of trigpoints: 1
Highlights: Site of Scotland's last fatal duel, Cardenden Tower, Wildfowl on Camilla Loch
Walk worth repeating: some parts definitely, but work out how to get to Clentrie Farm more directly and avoid getting lost in Lambswell Wood.
