Spring in Fife

Yesterday could be described as a typical Spring Day.....one that we rarely seem to experience nowadays.  Just a bit cool.  Fresh air.  Bright sun.  Blue sky.  Really, an overall perfect day.

Days like this are made for being outside, which worked out quite well for my plans, as I had walking North Queensferry on my list of items not yet accomplished here in Scotland.

So, I headed to the train station and bought a round trip ticket to Queensferry from the teller in the Kirkcaldy, who seemed to feel that he needed to make a comment about my credit card being a pain in the neck.  How nice was that?

You see, Europeans have a chip in their cards.  They place it in a card reader and put in a pin.  Marty was sure to have his corporate card replaced with a chip, simply because people here become quite annoyed at having to swipe American cards.

Some have no idea how to even swipe a card.  And, with Marty around, that is always an adventure, because he goes into his "let me teach you how to do this correctly" mode.
Then, he goes through the step by step directions of using the swiper on the machine.

• hold the card in the right direction and swipe quickly (at which point he reaches over the machine and swipes it himself, not even giving the teller the opportunity to do so.)
• wait for the communication to go through the line
• punch in the last 4 digits on the card (there is generally a pop up screen that expects this)
• wait for the paper to print (at this point, the teller is generally quite excited because the procedure has worked. And, Marty loves to share in the enthusiasm.)
• sign the paper (Marty uses the pen to sign his name)
• then he instructs the teller to compare the signature with the one on the card

Now, this last step is always amusing, because the teller generally hands the card back to Marty after punching in the numbers.  Marty  puts it in his pocket, signs the paper, then says "Now you have to compare my signature with the one on the card" and he pulls back out the card and lays it next to the slip, then asks the teller if it looks the same. 

So far, all the tellers have said "yes". So far, all have been quite amused by Marty's explanation.  One of these days I fear that we will stumble upon a not-so-friendly teller who doesn't appreciate Marty's instructions.  But, until we do, Marty sure is having a lot of fun with this.

When I arrived at Queensferry, the weather was fabulous.  There's quite a bit of history worth investigating in one little area of this town.

This is North Queensferry.  Across the forth there is South Queensferry.  The towns are named such because Queen Margaret initiated the first ferry across the firth so that pilgrims could travel from Edinburgh to St. Andrews, which held relics of that saint.  This was the narrowest part of the firth and Queen Margaret herself traveled quite frequently between Edinburgh castle and Dunfermline via ferry.

On the pier stands a light beacon that was built 1n 1817 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis the author.

This is actually the smallest "lighthouse" in Scotland, but it was designed to illuminate the area so that people disembarking from the ferry could see where they were going on land.  The flame was originally sourced by whale oil, but rapeseed oil is now used when the beacon is lit.

The building was open, and I was encouraged to go inside and take a peek, so I did.

I took a shot of the "beacon's eye" view

Walking down the pier, I was able to see the signal house that continues to stand today.

The forth Railroad Bridge looms nearby, and I thought that the owner of this house was quite clever to feature an entrance gate that resembled the construction of the bridge.

I decided to take a quick walk up the coastal trail, just to see some views out over the firth.  I was not disappointed.

On the way back to the train station, I spotted St. James chapel, bequeathed by Robert the Bruce in 1320.

In later years, it was converted into a graveyard for sailors.

Since it was such an awesome day, I decided to take Yvonne's advice, and walk the coastal trail from Dalgety Bay to Aberdour.  I had my handy GPS loaded up on my phone, so I was ready for the task.

I boarded the train to Dalgety Bay and pulled out the phone at the station.  I was able to find my way down to the harbor, by using the nifty map that had loaded on my phone.  This is Great Stuff!  My roaming and cellular data are turned off, but this system works by using the Satellite signal.

By this point, I was pretty pleased with myself, so I turned off the phone and put it back in my purse, and started out on the "Coastal" Trail.  What soon became obvious is that this trail wanders away from the coast, as I  found myself walking through the woods.  At one point, the trail split into 2, so I took the one that would lead to the coast.

Well, it was in the right direction, but this was what I came to at the end of the path.

There was obviously no trail to follow, and that is a fenced in field loaded with sheep, so I wasn't willing to make any attempt to walk through that!

Back up the hill, and I chose the other direction.  Much to my surprise, I came upon the ruins of a church on the trail.

 St. Brigit's Church was built in 1170.

I certainly hadn't expected to stumble upon that.

Walking along, I came to an even wider path, on the edge of a wooded area, and, once again, found myself at a split in the road.  Once again, I decided to go right, since that would lead to the coast.  I passed all sorts of concrete structures that had been strategically placed in these woods during World War II.  They are all abandoned at this point. 

Soon the path began to narrow, and I found myself heading toward the coast, but down a very narrow, rocky path.  I followed it down to the shore, but it sort of teetered out into nothing.  I'll admit that I was a bit annoyed by this point, because when one claims to have a Coastal Path, it really should be marked better.  I spotted a couple with four dogs on the pier, so I presumed that they had come from the left, as they departed to the right.

So, I found myself trudging along the rocks on the edge of the sand of the firth, concerned by the fact that if the tide had been up, there would be no path where I was walking.  Within short time, I spotted a trodden down path, about two shoe-widths wide, with grass on either side up to my hips.  I decided to take it, but was very nervous, as it wove in and out around the cliffs over the shoreline.  I had hiked other sections similar to this, but they were more defined.

Soon the path led me back up to the woods, which was quite a challenge, as the pitch was extremely steep.  I'll admit that I was really concerned about being in what seemed to me to be such a remote area.  Finally, after making my way through the woods attempting to ascertain just where the path was, it began to widen and I felt confident that I was on the right trail.

I came to yet another split in the road, but I remembered Yvonne telling me that I would be walking through a marked path in a field. Sure enough.....I found that.

So, I knew from what Yvonne had mentioned, that I had to be on the trail, but let's face it.....that's a bit crazy, don't you think?

But the view from this pass was pretty spectacular.  Sheep with the Forth Railroad Bridge on the horizon.

Soon I was walking through those woods at the end of the field and I once again came to a split in the road.  Luckily for me, someone was riding a bike, and I asked which way to Aberdour, and I was told to go right.  (which is what I had done all along the trail so far....I had thought about trying left this time....good thing I asked.)

By this time, as you can imagine, I was exhausted...partly by the intense walking up and down steep hills, and party from the past worry of being lost in the woods.  All was well now, but I was anxious to get to the end of this trail.  It was supposed to be a scenic coastal walk.  I hadn't seen much of the water on this walk.

As I headed towards Aberdour, I spotted the couple with the four dogs that I had seen on the pier.  Do you remember how they had gone to the right, and I had gone to the left? 

Well they were walking much slower than me, and were pretty far ahead.  Obviously, they knew a short cut that I did not.  I caught up with the one little dog, who was struggling to keep up with his owners.  He was a beagle,  panting, obviously struggling with every step, and when he looked up at me with those big brown eyes, as if to say "help", I told him that I understood exactly how he felt. 

When I saw the golf course, I knew I was close to the end of my day's journey.

I took the train back to Kirkcaldy and although I was pretty tired from my adventure, I decided that it would be great to go to a restaurant that overlooked the firth.

So, Marty and I walked to the train, departed in Kinghorn, and walked along the road until we came to the Bay Hotel, which did offer a spectacular view.

If I look tired....it's because I WAS!

We had a lovely dinner, then walked back to the train station, where we had to wait 40  minutes for the next train. But, it was a beautiful evening, and we thoroughly enjoyed the view.

That photo was taken at 9:30 p.m.  Pretty amazing that it is so light, don't you think?

What's up for today?  Well, I decided it was time to take it easy!  As lovely as our hostess, Yvonne, is, Marty and I both decided that I would refrain from future trip tips on her part.  I know that she means well, but yesterday's adventure was a bit too over the top for me.

I think I'll stay on solid ground today.  But the weather sure does look enticing out there!

Perhaps I'll just go take a walk.