Sole to Soul

  Well, this was a surprise! Not the walk that was advertised, was it? There were a few attempts at recces over the last couple of weeks, settling on this lovely walk from Riverside Park, Glenrothes to Leslie and return. 3.8 miles. There were a few call-offs for various reasons, but we still had eight walkers set off from church at 1245 in three cars. At the park, we were lucky to get spaces as the car park was choc a bloc. I was fine though as I have a parking fairy. We admired the layout of the park and the wonderful play area for kids – the best in Fife according to grandchildren. The Fife Presbytery Funday/picnic was held here a couple of weeks ago. The first photo of the day was Janis with Dianne on a stone Hippo. Compare and contrast 2026 to 2019 2026 2019 These hippos were created in the early 70s by Stanley Bonnar, father of actor Mark Bonnar. He was asked to design playful pieces of concrete art to be scattered throughout the streets and parks of Glenrothes. People love t...

  Im Grumpy. I spent the morning writing the blog and lost it. AAARRGGHHH The gremlins have arrived. I cannot turn this photo 😆😆 Thanks to Margaret Miller and Margaret Nikolic for organizing and doing the recce for today’s walk. Nine of us headed for Falkland in three cars and we met up in the main car park. Falkland was very busy and parking places were like hens' teeth. I wish I’d taken a speeded-up video for YouTube. Several of us pointing, calling and giving best advice to the drivers about spaces which were about to become free. There were many circles made of the car park, 3/5 point turns, and a couple of illegal parking places occupied by two of our own ! Eventually, we set off, Margaret Miller leading us down the High Street/East Port and across the busy A912 into the countryside. Right away we were flanked by fields of gold. With the Lomonds behind us, it seemed like we were making for Newton of Falkland, but none of us was exactly sure. There was a sign which said Laigh...

  It's been so long since the walkers have met up. This was a deliberately short one today to check that everyone was still happy to carry on with the group and also to keep it local so that we didn't need to use our cars for transport.  After church and a very hurried cheese peece in the hall, we eco warriors took the bus to Kinghorn, and gathered at the memorial.  Even with a few call offs we still had twelve hooded walkers making our way down Pettycur Road in the drizzle. Visibility was good enough to see ahead that the tide was out, just as the Timetides chart forecast. Very few people on the beach today. Partly because it was light rain/ drizzle and partly because visitors have been scared off this week due to the announcements from SEPA of sewage escaping from the Kinghorn burn into Kinghorn Harbour. Obviously this can cause harm to humans and animals so people were sensibly avoiding the area. However, there were no such scary reports for Pettycur Beach and so ...

E leven walkers and  a few gremlins headed for High Valleyfield in three cars, all travelling by different routes! It was kind of a long way to travel today for a walk that would normally take a couple of hours. There was a bit of dithering before we left Kirkcaldy, and wee bit more when we arrived at the appointed parking spot at Newmills. Once assembled though, off we jolly well went up through Valleyfield woods, splodging through the glaur at the start. Our boots were well and truly tested for being impervious to water! It was actually great walking weather and once in the forest, we got into our comfortable strides; some long legged strides at the front and wee pint-sized ones bringing up the rear.  At the first spotting of snowdrops, I snapped a couple of pals - note the other snapper at Isobel's heels. I wasn't expecting our pic to be photobombed by a wee dug!  The walk through the woods is part of the designed landscape of Valleyfield House estate, the big house lo...

It was a kind of last minute plan to walk the Limekilns/Charleston circular today. We were supposed to do North to South Queensferry (across the Forth Road Bridge that is!) last Sunday but the weather was too, too cold and icy, so we postponed till today.  Thirteen walkers were up for a wee daunder and hoped that the weather forecast was accurate. No rain till 4pm they said this morning. We arrived at Limekilns at 1.20pm and took the last four spaces in the wee car park at the pier, then off we toddled - yes, a canny pace today - along the prom. The Forth was like a millpond and although the sun was conspicuous by its absence, we were satisfied that it was a good walking day. At the end of the prom we veered off to the left into a road named The Saltpans. I googled this. Apparently, in 12th century, production of salt in Scotland came mainly from the Firth of Forth. Not in 21st century though. Your Saxa comes from Kent. Further on into East Harbour Road we came across the actual en...

I had to look up the word 'stotting' to see if it was Fife slang or a real word. I was delighted to find it in Collins dictionary with a useful adjunct for use when it rains intensely in Scotland - STOATING!  Those of us who were at church in the morning had some disbelieving looks when they saw we were dressed for walking. "You are surely going to cancel!" "You can't go walking in that!" "Must be daft." Ignoring their words of encouragement, at 1.15pm we met up with the rest of the numpties at the train station and travelled the short distance to Aberdour.  And this was what welcomed us when we alighted from the train - lovely blue skies! Oh ye of little faith. The weatherman was spot on today - he did say it would be fair after 1pm. Eleven walkers marched along Aberdour High Street making comment about how busy the narrow road is through the village. So we walked single file at parts. On the way out of the village, it was interesting to read ...