Elie Circular - 1st March 2019

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!

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?!"

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.

Old Chapel, Earlsferry. NT4899

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.

Earlsferry Beach and Kincraig Point, NT4799.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Kincraig Radar Observation Post. NT4799

Kincraig Gun Battery. NT4699

Kincraig trigpoint. NT4699

The Fife Coast Path hugs the coast here, high above the platform of rocks far below.

View of coast from Kincraig. NT4699

We didn't see much of Shell Bay as we decided to head inland from here to make it a circular walk.

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.

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.

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.

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!

St Ford Cottages. NO4701

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

Collessie to Monimail via Collessie Den - 26/02/2019

On a day like today you could think spring had sprung early and, as we began our short walk, the Daffodils lifted their cheery heads and smiled at us. It was a good omen for the day. We had left one car a mile or so up the road at our finishing point to save us walking along the road, but it would not be too arduous to complete the circuit on foot if necessary. I just have a bit of a thing about walking on roads; I'm really not keen, which you could be forgiven for not having realised if you've read many of my posts as I always tend to end up having to do it at some point on my walks. This is largely due to the fact that I'm even less keen on linear walks and returning the same way and obviously want to walk through as many different grid squares as possible.

Anyway, Tim and I set off for our afternoon stroll from the delightful village of Collessie up a footpath we had noticed a few days previously. It led to Collessie Den.

Collessie Den - NO2813

The path gradually climbs away from the Den Burn to a fork, the left hand path leading back downhill across the railway onto the B937, and the right hand one leading uphill to Braeside and beyond. The latter was our choice for the day.

Braeside. NO2714

There was a lovely view back down to Collessie from here, whilst the nearer undulating hills were a little reminiscent of the Dorset landscape I had left behind.

Old farm machinery and Collessie from Green Law. NO2714

Undulating hills near Collessie. NO2714, with East and West Lomond in the distance.

Northwards we gained our first glimpse of Lindores Loch, to which we were heading.

Lindores Loch from Green Law. NO2714

This was turning out to be a delightful walk with incredible views and we now descended to Cairneyhall, where we were forced to do a little road walking.

Cairneyhall and Lindores Loch. NO2715

There is an excellent footpath beyond where we were turning off today, but, as far as I know, no path exists at this section, which is a shame as it means one cannot enjoy looking at the Loch and birdwatching. We walked to the pier, from which at least you gain an open view of the Loch. I think we saw Mallard and Wigeon; Tim would no doubt remember more species!

Lindores Pier with sunbathing Mallards. NO2716

Once we'd got off the road onto a lovely track eastwards, we sat at the base of a tree and munched our afternoon snack, overlooking a promising reedbed. "That would make a great bird reserve," Tim mused and, ten minutes later we had virtually spent millions of pounds in creating said bird reservie, complete with bird hides and telescopes. Ah, but we can dream!

Lindores reedbed - NO2716

We ascended to a bifurcation in paths at Dunbog Hill. Had I been on my own, I would have been tempted to detour a  hundred uphill yards or so to bag the trigpoint, but decided to leave that to another day, as it would be a gratuitous uphill on this occasion.

Dunbog Hill - NO2816

So we descended on Whitefield Farm track.

Whitefield Farm track - NO2815

There are some squares I need to zoom right into on my phone because the path only briefly goes into it and I need to be sure I'm in it to take the photo. Not that anything bad would happen to me if I took the photo when I wasn't in the square, you understand; simply, to satisfy myself I've taken a photograph of that gridsquare whilst IN that gridsquare in order for it to count in Geograph rules to make the photograph a Geograph as opposed to other categories. It is Geographs I am collecting.

Now that we've got that straight, we can move on to the next square, which was one of those aforementioned that we were only briefly in, so I worked out which direction I needed to take the photo in order to be photographing the correct square and snapped Cunnoquhie Hill.

Cunnoquhie Hill - NO2915

Our walk had started with waving Daffodils, a lovely portent of spring; now some adorable lambs came bounding towards us. Now that I've passed my half century I seem to be surrounded by reminders of old age, death and decay; it's really quite depressing. How I revel in reminders of springtime, of life beginning and renewed hope. OK, so I have to forget about the future destiny of the lambs, but I can do that quite easily when I see them bleating and gamboling.

Lost lamb. NO2915

Another early sign of spring was the Rooks congregating and getting ready for nest building, if they hadn't already begun.

Rooks near Monimail. NO2915

And so we had finished our walk, or nearly. I had one square left to photograph and, ever with the hope of happening upon a Wallcreeper we entered a disused quarry to take the snap.

Monimail Quarry. NO2914.

No Wallcreeper, but that won't stop us looking again! A lovely walk with the promise of spring.

Number of new gridsquares: 8
Number of miles walked: 4.7
Walk worth repeating: yes

Glenduckie Hill and Norman's Law - 23/02/2019

Oh these wonderful days of being free to wander at will. Days now restricted, so cherished all the more. Today's walk was going to be a combination of two hills and would be in the company of my brother, Tim.

We parked at a small lay-by by the village of Glenduckie; the weather was overcast, but dry, so we knew we would not get exceedingly good Mr Kipling type views from the mighty summits, but that just means returning, and it is a walk worth returning to.

The tiny hamlet of Glenduckie nestles below Glenduckie Hill.

Glenduckie and Glenduckie Hill - NO2818

We followed the path to the west of the hill fort and gradually ascended to the summit, all 200 or so metres of it. There is a bench here and, on this occasion, two empty glasses and a candle. Why people think it is acceptable to leave litter like this is baffling to me. Do they think toasting a departed loved one sanctions such behaviour? I'm not sure.

Glenduckie Hill Summit - NO2819

From here we followed the path through woodland and losing our way slightly. We should more or less have circumnavigated the massif, but ended up traversing its summit plateau. It made no difference to my square count anyway. We came down to almost where we'd started from in Glenduckie, but then headed eastwards towards Glascairn.

A barn made a good subject for this gridsquare's photograph, although the footpath was lined with cheery snowdrops and Lesser Celandine. How welcome these bright little flowers are after the dull winter.

Barn near Glascairn. NO2919

Footpath at Glascairn - NO2919

Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine at Glascairn. NO2919

The hamlet of Glascairn consists of two or three cottages.

Glascairn Cottages. NO2919

Glenduckie Hill from Glascairn. NO2919

We continued eastwards into the next gridsquare, which I decided to leave until our descent back through the same gridsquare. At some point we scared a Woodcock from its slumber and it flew up soundlessly from just under our feet, giving us a bit of a scare.

And so we meandered onto the summit of Norman's Law at its mighty height of 285 metres. It is a marilyn, "a hill of any height with a drop of 150 metres (nearly 500 ft) or more on all sides". This means it is relatively high in comparison with its surroundings. There were certainly excellent views all round from the summit, north to the Tay and south to the distinctive landmark of Hopetoun Monument (although we didn't know what it was at the time) There is a toposcope here with directions and mileage to distinctive landmarks viewed from here. I always like studying these things and trying to make out the various lumps and bumps visible.

Norman's Law summit - NO 3020

Again we followed our noses searching for the path on the east side of the hill which would lead us southwards to Denmuirhill. It felt good to be making our own tracks again, to be wandering at will, rather than having to stick to the restrictive footpaths south of the border. It made for harder walking though - all good exercise of course!

At Denmuirhill we came across a strange structure - a stone wall with a line of iron pulleys. We later discovered this was an erstwhile WWI rifle range.

Pulleys and remains of WWI rifle range at Denmuirhill. NO3019

Norman's Law from the south. NO3019.

We walked to the west of Whirly Kipps hill and pondered on its unusual and rather attractive name. Apparently whirly means 'puny' or shrunken and 'kips' means projecting points of a hill, so it is not a very complimentary name. There is another hill of the same name to the north of Norman's Law. A ruin reminded us once more of times past; perhaps this was something to do with the rifle range. I can't think it was a dwelling place contemporary with the rifle range as that would be just too dangerous!

Ruin at Denmuirhill with Norman's Law in the background. NO3019.

We walked past the farm at Denmuir, with some buildings in a ruinous state.

Denmuir farm. NO3018

Between Denmuir and Ayton we passed a carpet of Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine, which was truly spectacular.

Snowdrops and Lesser Celandine near Ayton. NO3018.

The Snowdrop

Lord Alfred Tennyson

Many, many welcomes,

February fair-maid,

Ever as of old time,

Solitary firstling,

Coming in the cold time,

Prophet of the gay time,

Prophet of the May time,

Prophet of the roses,

Many, many welcomes,

February fair-maid!

Another unusual feature attracted our attention at Ayton, a type of water wheel in the garden.

Water wheel at Ayton. NO3018.

I only had one gridsquare left and there was nothing of particular note within it, so I snapped boring shot 

of the road as we walked back uphill to rejoin our route at Glascairn.

Road at Broomhill. NO2918.

                       

We now retraced our steps back to the car, our route resembling a mirror image of the map of Britain with a ball and chain!

Number of miles walked: 7.5
Number of new gridsquares: 7
Number of hills climbed: 2
Walk worth repeating: yes