THE FIFE COASTAL PATH

PART 3

TORRYBURN TO LIMEKILNS

The walk to Crombie is, well, a trifle dull and as the day I walked was in itself dull, there was technically nothing of great going on. However, I have a tendency to create mayfly projects i.e. things to focus my attention which generally last only a week (clearly, walking long distance and writing them is bit of a contradiction but I'll skip over that). Now, l'd seen a photo project album which set out 365 unusual photographic tasks e.g. a photo of a cloud that looks like something else. One of the tasks was to photograph a flock of birds. Now, one of the things about the Fife Coastal is that at certain times of the year it attracts migrating geese, lots of them. They stop to feed in the fields on both sides of the Forth but the real “wow" is seeing and hearing skeins of geese in their hundreds, in their “Vs one after the other. As they are as I write (2/10/19). And on this particular day, I was up for taking a photo for the album. One issue is that you tend to hear them before you see them (cue “an ecstasy of fumbling"). Getting the camera off the shoulder and/or out is a task. Getting the damn thing lined up through the viewfinder is a major problem, and the general result is a row of dots. So, on the day I struggled. But had a degree of success. But you don’t get satisfaction off first off. So pursuit of a reasonable shot went on for some time, and in a variety of weathers, but I eventually got a couple I was happier with (the fields close to the south end of Kincardine Bridge attract hundreds). And I like them. The walk to Crombie went faster as I took out then put away the camera five or six times. But nothing changes the thrill I have seeing these birds migrate across the skies over the Forth.

The path diverting up the hill is largely because of Crombie Point, which is three miles up the Forth from the Royal Navy dockyard at Rosyth. Crombie was/is a secret storage facility with two jetties which allow for the loading/unloading of munitions. It is still functioning, but the coastal path takes you up to the main road which runs past the dockyard before looping back towards the Forth. A by the by is that there was a serious munitions depot much closer up to Stirling (Bandeath) where munitions were stored in dispersed storage facilities in an area of open land by the river. The best view is from the top of the Ochils which clearly shows the dispersal from above and is clearly seen on Google earth. This depot is pretty much a 1914-18 war vintage.

Returning to the sheep…… The route takes you to the A895 which runs past Crombie village. As a bit of light relief, the FCP takes the opportunity to cut a corner through Crombie village itself which allows for views of the RN Dockyard at Rosyth. Two aircraft carriers were built recently at Rosyth and have undergone sea trials. Otherwise the route follows the A895, which is a fairly busy road looping to the south of Dunfermline itself. Which means walking along the main road to Waulkmill where the path runs to run past the Scottish Lime Centre (although I think that’s closed between then and now). Admittedly walking down the road to Waulkmill led to more goose activity on and over the ridge to the north. The place was hooching with goose.

The route turns right after the burn (the Lyn? I mean, the map shows a stream coming out on the Forth at a place named Aberlyn. So must be the Lyn, right?. Take it away Sherlock!

Walking into Limekilns (well, more Charlestown really)

The Elgin Hotel, Limekilns

The village still seems like a managed village under the patronage of the Laird. It is an ordered quiet place. a designed village above an older harbour (which isn’t on the route). The Earl of Elgin (or the well-kennt one) is most famous for nicking the marbles from the Parthenon. It is still a contentious issue.

The Elgin wealth came, naturally enough from the resoures of the local area i.e. a signficant length of the Fife Coast and the hinterland, in earlier times from the industry of Culross, and latterly with the industrialisation of the area from resources such as coal quarried around Dunfermline and Crossford. The Elgin name still occurs along the coast, past the bridges to Burntisland and beyond.

The Fife Coastal Path does not run past the limekilns as such. So there is a need to go and look (Google Maps gives a very good idea of the scale of the industry). So, another point on the going back to check exercise.

To be clear, Limekilns is not really Limekilns in the sense that the Limekilns are in Charleston, and Limekilns doesn’t have limekilns. The actual limekilns are worth a diversion. So hot off piste and work out whether it’s worth a diversion. Or, alternatively, take it from me it is.

The path down the Brae from Charlestown down to Limekilns is cobbled and looks to the Dockyard and the bridges in the distance.

The War Memorial stands after the Brae, between Charleston and Limekilns, on a small outcrop below the scarp.

Buzzards like to hang on thermals over the edge of the scarp which runs along the length of the shorline between Longannet and the kilns.

My first walk through Limekilns was in 2018, the centenary of the ending of the first world war, something that was commemorated by the good burghers of Limekilns with a small garden of rememberance (above). Rememberance indeed.