Fife coastal path (or at least some sections of it)

Anstruther
 
After a long break writing my blog, let me now show you one of my favourite area of Scotland: the Kingdom of Fife. 
I love it there, firstly, because it usually gets a nicer weather than Stirling, secondly because it is by the sea (or the Forth estuary for a big part of it) and it is full of very charming towns and villages.
Therefore it has a very nice holiday feeling and a day trip over there always feels like a breath of fresh air. 
In this time of Covid, I feel very lucky to be able to easily get a change of scenery without having to travel very far.


Anstruther

We decided to walk small bits of the Fife Coastal path which is a long distance trail linking the Forth and the Tay estuaries. This 183km path follows the Kingdom of Fife coastline passing through picturesque old fishing villages, some more industrial towns, as well the birth place of Golf: St Andrews. There are beautiful golden beaches along the trail, and interesting wildlife to be spotted: seabirds, seals, and even sometimes dolphins.



 
 
 The first section we walked was from Anstruther to Crail. This section is actually quite small, it is possible to do a longer section and take the bus to come back but we preferred avoiding public transport, so we walked there and back again.
 
 
 

 
Crail
 
 
Crail is probably the nicest fishing village I've seen so far (we still have a lot to explore on this coast so there may be a better one, although Crail put the cuteness level bar very high). It is tiny but extremely charming, with a very small harbour, some lovely little coffee shops and a great golden beach. It's the perfect destination for a slow and relaxing time by the sea. If I were more brave I would have gone for a swim because the water was looking very clear and tempting.
 



Crail


On the other hand Anstruther is a much bigger town, it's in fact the biggest town of the East Neuk of Fife (east corner of Fife), with a quite busy and vibrant town centre. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, some of the best chippies (Fish&chips shop) in Scotland.  

St Monans


Anstruther 
 
We came back on another sunny weekend to walk the St Monans to Anstruther section of the Fife coastal path. The start of the walk is very picturesque (but sadly I haven't managed to get any good photo) with a lovely church and cemetery just by the sea. The village is very pretty too and has a very good restaurant right on the harbour the "East Pier Smokehouse". St Monans is a short walk away from Pittenweem, another super charming village, which is also a short walk away from Anstruther.


St Monans


Aberdour Castle
 
 
Our last trip in the Kingdom of Fife led us to Aberdour. We started by visiting the lovely Aberdour Castle and Garden before walking to Burntisland. 
I highly recommend visiting Aberdour castle, firstly for its beautiful garden and terraced orchard, and secondly for its very well preserved Renaissance painted ceiling.
The Silver Sands beach in Aberdour is also lovely, and at only 45min drive from Stirling it's probably to closest beach to go to on a (rare) warm and sunny day. 
 
 Silver Sands Beach, Aberdour
 
 Burntisland beach (Award winning!)
 
We were extremely surprised by Burntisland, with a name like this and some kind of industrial port we assumed the town was not going to be the nicest. It turns out that it's lovely, with a nice centre full of café, shops and ice cream shop (I do recommand a good Gelato), a very big park and a beautiful beach which apparently received awards. There is also a little walk that can be done following the coast which offers the best view onto Edinburgh which is just across the Forth estuary and is a great place to spot sea birds.
In short Burntisland exceeded by far our expectations.
 
The whole of Scotland is beautiful but the kingdom of Fife has a little special place in my heart...
 
 View over Edinburgh from the other side of the Forth
 


 

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