Aberdour circular 4.2 miles

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 all the names of the fancy houses on Inverkeithing Road. We were a bit nosey too, looking in everyone's gardens. With great caution, we crossed the A921 and soon reached the relative safety of the road that leads to Braefoot Bay Marine Terminal - an oil /gas terminal I think -  when we relaxed into a comfortable pace. Further on we turned left onto Birch Avenue which is long and flat and safe and as the name suggests we entered what felt  like a church with a canopy of  birch tree branches above like the roof.  We should have taken a wee detour to check out St Colme House hidden away in the trees but we were well into our conversations by that point. The golf course was on our right, however no-one on the greens today as they were water-logged. At the end of this stretch, which is part of the Fife Coastal Path, were emerged onto Aberdour High Street again through the impressive wrought iron gates which once was the entrance to the Donibristle Estate.

We were held up temporarily at the new wool shop on the High Street where we oo'd and ah'd at the lovely quality yarns in the window. Shore Road next, and I indicated to the others where we would be having coffee and fabby scones at the Cafe at no 16, once we finished our walk. Towards the Black Sands now, we sped up a little on the way downhill. What a tremendous seascape across the Forth from there - that would be the fifth day then, when God made the sea and all the creatures therein. Absorb it.

Now there is a teensy weensy shop just at the harbour that sells beautiful crafty stuff so some  of us couldn't resist paying a visit - the rest of us stopped for a photo outside. 

It's a cosy coat day then.

We agreed how lucky we are to have such lovely places to  walk and visit in Fife. We're always saying that. Round the other side of the harbour is the only testing part of this walk. It is a very steep climb with stairs to reach Hawkcraig Road, and actually one or two of us were struggling, so we cut the walk a wee bit short at that stage. Cutting through Aberdour castle gardens, we remarked that even in winter, the gardens were clearly being tended. Thank you, Historic Environment Scotland, for keeping the castle and grounds in such good order for visitors to enjoy.  A wee bit of the castle had collapsed though so we sat on it and took another photo.

Only then did we start talking about tea.. coffee.. scones.. Desperation set in. 

We skelped along the High Street - yes again - and when that cafe came into view, well it was unbridled joy.

They were expecting us as we had previously done a recce and sampled their goodies and made the booking for 11 people. We had also phoned to check the booking, and I had popped in when we got off the train to assure them that 11 walkers were coming at 3.30pm. So when the waitress announced that they had only 5 scones, I was fit to be tied. She got an earful poor thing. Some of us had half a scone. Unacceptable. Well, we got over it. 

Now, today's walk leader was supposed to mind the time as there is only one train per hour. Alas, she failed miserably so we had an hour to put off in the outdoor waiting room at the station. Hysteria was setting in though, so there was a lot of noise and hilarity, and even when our train was delayed, we just accepted it. Time for a wee prayer. Looking around the circle I'm sure made us all realise we were with friends. Good friends. Thank you God for these lovely people.