The Fife Pilgrims Way

October 16, 2024

Well I have now begun, and completed, the Fife Pilgrims Way. This, in Medieval times, was a route that departed from either Culcross or North Queensferry and ended in St. Andrews, but I was doing it in reverse, deciding at the end where my destination would be. It is a route which is genrally well signposted in both directions.

The signs

Map of the route

Due to the exorbitant cost of accomodation anywhere in the vicinity of St Andrews I opted for a base in Dundee, and a commute to and from each stage. This, even with the added fares, still meant I was paying around half price, and it also meant I could walk pack free, therefore I could walk faster and further.

Day 1 from St Andrews to the village of Ceres was cold, but dry. I was struck by the St Andrews population and their youthfulness, due no doubt to it being a university town, though following the path out of town the older population emerged as they exercised their dogs. It is surprising how "rural" the path was, even though I was walking through the suburbs. After a lovely park (with a cafe!), there was the inevitable golf course, part of which was enclosed by a stone wall, which I accidentally found myself on the wrong side of! When I asked the man on the mower tractor how I could get out his response was " how did you get in?" which I couldn't answer because I had just followed a path. Turned out it was the wrong one!

Leaving St Andrews

Escaped - on the right side of the wall

Ceres

Day 2 was another pack free day from Ceres to Markinch. A sunny day, but damp, walking through wet grass. Fortunately I had packed my waterproof socks in my day pack and managed to change into them leaning against a gate, while I hopped, one legged, trying not to touch the wet ground. The views were delightful, not high, but wide. Walking through Kennoway I found an open Church and even had a sing.

Appropriate signage for a sing!

Numerous gates to open and close, and lean against!

The Kirk in Markinch is very much a pilgrim destination. Sitting atop a hill in the centre of the old town, it was a landmark visible from quite a distance as I strided through the paddocks.

Markinch, St Drostan's Kirk

After leaving Kinglassie I somehow missed the path and ended up crossing this viaduct.

The next day I set off, with my pack this time, to a village called Cardenden. It was actually a detour because it was the only place I could find reasonably priced accomodation. Staying there two nights meant I could walk the next day pack free - a bonus.

The church in Cardenden

My pack free day was a delight, and eventful, passing through Lochore Meadows and St Ninians. This area, at another time, was highly industrial, with huge open cut coal mines, one pit being 2,000 feet deep. Eventually the mining stopped, and so began the largest land regeneration project in Britain. In 1974 they began planting over a million conifers and deciduous trees to begin stabalizing the ground.

Loch Ore. Even the cold and wet didn't stop the fishermen, the sailors, and though not visible, the swimmers.

More fishermen, at Lochfitty.

This was a day when it rained from beginning to end, and, as I was coming down the hill from St Ninians, hail was added to the mix, so heavy that I could feel it stinging through three layers of clothing.

One of the open cut mines, this one at St Ninians, with the black cloud full of hail (and lightning) behind me.

The final day on the Fife Pilgrims Way was, for me, from the delightful and historic town of Dunfermline to North Queensferry, an equally historic village on the edge of the Firth of Forth.

Entering Dunfermline

The old abbey in Dunfermline

Abbott house, Dunfermline

It was in Queensferry that the 11th century Queen Margaret established a ferry crossing so that Pilgrims could safely make the crossing of the Forth from South Queensferry to North Queensferry, on the other side.