After walking the Fife Coastal Path we decided to head for the hills. The first of such walks was The Binn above Burtisland, seen from Pettycur Harbour.
Here’s a link to my post about the day on my other blog:
Bring me Sunshine, Bring me Laughter, Bring me Love
Now I’m taking you northwards but it has taken us two attempts to reach the top of East Lomond Hill. What! I can hear you saying, ‘you soft southerners’ but in our defense the first time we attempted this walk, it was a sunny day just after we had both recovered from the flu.
At the vanishing point of the path in this picture above there is a fork giving us two options, to head directly to the hill or to veer around it. We chose the left hand route and soon the path began to climb quite steeply. Unfortunately, only a quarter of the way to the summit I began to feel a bit tired and dizzy and so we turned back, but even from this height the views were wonderful in the dappled sunlight.
Last week we returned, pausing briefly in Falkland for a light lunch. (I will write about Falkland on another post since it deserves at least one of its own because, although it does not feature in The Healing Paths of Fife, it is an extremely important wee town in the area for numerous reasons)
The day of this walk began sunny but by the time we set out it was beginning to look broody, so we strode upwards from the car park with determination and also vital new knowledge. ‘It is much easier to take the longer route to the right and walk around the hill until you find the path on its south easterly side,’ advised a friend, (and more suitable for you softies I could imagine him muttering under his breath.)
It was wonderful to make out Inchkeith Island in the distance, opposite where we now live, as the Firth of Forth stretched in front of us out towards the estuary. As you can see the climb is gentler this way, at first anyway.
We paused on the sheltered side of East Lomond Hill for breath, water and to admire the views.
At the top it was clear that the wind had picked up and so we only stayed on the summit briefly for photos. I’m actually hanging on up there! You can see West Lomond, the greater challenge in the distance.
We retraced our steps only just in time, reaching the car before the rain. The forcast was for a storm that night but we felt content to snuggle at home, satisfied to have completed the walk. A fine one it was too. It was only 424 m high but onwards and upwards eh ~ just like writing!
East Lomond Hill was an early hill fort from the Iron Age. I cannot imagine living on those windy slopes though. They’re a hardy bunch, the Scots, aren’t they 🙂
I will begin in Lower Largo.
We stood gazing along the beach for a while towards the peninsula, which pointed out towards North Berwick on the south coast of The Forth. Rocks and sand stretched for what appeared to be miles into the distance. Behind us was a small harbour, The Crusoe Inn Hotel and a viaduct which framed quaint cottages, like a backdrop for an Agatha Christie movie.
Largo’s claim to fame as the birth place of the real Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk. Old ‘letters’ adorn the walls of the hotel and you can even ‘walk’ on a footprint of the man himself.
Diana Jackson 