Bartimaeus

We had two nights away. The second evening, after a whole day on the Fife coastal path we both plumped for fish and chips. An affogato with a raspberry liqueur added a bit of a Scottish flair.

The sun was just as bright the next day and even better they had a kipper for breakfast so the fishing theme for the Fife coast break was continued. We arranged that we could leave our bags for later collection and appreciate more of the Fife coastal path unencumbered. We set off in the opposite direction and walked along the beach. The curlews were out again, and we were also hailed by fellow guests of the hotel, and they turned out to have come from Edinburgh too. It is no surprise that is a popular place for Edinburgh folk. 

We walked with them until the route took us off the beach. We moved up to the dune path and then later returned to the beach again. While the sand was pale, some of the stones thrown up at the top of the beach were a deep red colour.

We met a small school group that may have been looking to go in the caves. We had a bit of a look towards there but decided to admire the rocky paths at a distance as the going looked very steep. We retraced our steps along the sandy paths and shore, accompanied by stonechats, wrens and robins. They were all pretty chatty.

Picking up our bags at the hotel, we had a quick drink and then caught the bus to Lower Largo. We had lunch there at a cafe just off the beach that also had a crafts and arts centre, called The Aurrie. That hit the spot and had some interesting knitwear. They would be very cosy. I had stayed warm enough with the walking and sunshine.

The sun was in our faces as we walked to Leven alongside the beach. We really liked the little comical clockwork sanderlings skittering along the shore as the sea lapped on the sand.

The train didn’t run quite like clockwork though. It came in to the station at Leven very slowly and there was an announcement that they were an engine down but we’re going to try to restart it. We were largely unaffected but some passengers had to disembark at Kirkcaldy and get a later train, while ours stopped at fewer stations to speed it up. We were the lucky ones. Fife had treated us well.