Bartimaeus

The rooms at The Ship Inn were all named after famous seafarers. The sample menu had had a few fish dishes in it and the information book in the room told us that the nearby Pittenweem was still an active fishing port with a fish market at six in the morning. Interesting as that might be, we were confident we wouldn’t be seeing that attraction. The room was lovely with a view over the water and at 6am that was where we would be.

We went to the bar before dinner and I was spoilt for choice with a long shelf of gins to choose from, not a bad problem to have. Up in the restaurant we were shown to a table and the member of staff asked if we wanted him to open a chilling bottle of rosé prosecco. Now I’m happy to have a glass or two of prosecco but it seemed very unlikely Shane would help me get through a bottle and even less likely that he had ordered it, or even mentioned while booking that it was an anniversary. As I said we wouldn’t get through it, it dawned on the staff that there was an error. We had not ordered this. Either we had been shown to the wrong table or the ice bucket had been put on the wrong table. They quickly whisked it to the next table just as two women came in who were ushered there. They looked like they were very happy to share the prosecco and now I had the notion I ordered a glass myself so we were all happy. It turned out they were celebrating a birthday and a dessert with a candle came later to their table.

I hadn’t thought through that a Monday arrival meant less fresh fish, if the fishing boats don’t go out on a Sunday, so it was less prominent on the menu. We enjoyed our meals and Shane made the surprise choice of a Madeira afterwards while I made the unsurprising choice of affogato but had it with Cointreau for a change, which I rather liked. 

In the morning I fancied a kipper but I was still too early for fish delivery and settled for porridge. I seemed to be getting into a Scottish mood. Last night everything I  had ordered in the restaurant was Italian.

We got out into the blue sky weather, warmly dressed and went to look at the harbour. There are a few boats about and some lobster creels so I do wonder if some seafood comes from Elie.

As we walked back from the harbour to reach the coastal route we saw a horse box perched near the shore. It was a sauna and two women looked like they were thinking about getting it started up. I saw buckets behind and wondered what they were for. When I went over one woman asked if I was interested in a sauna. I wasn’t, for several reasons, but I did ask about the buckets. She said that if someone didn’t want to go in the sea they could throw the bucket of water over themselves in stead. The buckets had a one inch layer of ice formed on the top and she was lifting those out. Well that was another reason I would not be partaking of the experience, invigorating as it may be.

It was a beautiful clear day to enjoy a fully clothed coastal walk however, with a variety of terrain – paths, sand and rocks and lots of hedge  and coastal birds. There were lots of curlews and oyster catchers. (Oysters had been on the menu last night….) And of course great views over the water.

We diverted to the Lady’s tower. Clearly it had been a place to watch for ships, and may be birds, with large open windows and a hearth.

We hit perfect timing for lunch at The Giddy Gannet at St Monan’s, warming soup and warm cheese scones were both delicious. We were ready to walk on and our next stop was the home of the fish market and we did see some men on their boat getting it moored up at the harbour plus clear evidence of its fishing heritage, with the fishermen’s memorial depicting the families that depended on the sea and the women who gutted fish when the boats came in and lost their men, when they didn’t. The sea rushes past houses into the town at high tide. We were there when the ride was out.

Braving the water at the harbour were also a large number of eider ducks, that would no doubt be cosy in their down.

Further on is Anstruther. (Shane informed me this is known locally as Anster.) Anstruther continues into Cellardyke and we decided to walk back to Anstruther for the bus, keeping moving was good and also gave us a chance to walk back towards the setting sun.

The harbour exploration kept us moving in stead of standing at the bus stop. We were soon back in our room and admiring the sunset again from there.