Kinghorn to St Monans
Having yesterday plodded through the built-up areas of Inverkeithing and Burntisland, then up the main road to Kinghorn, I wasn’t too thrilled about starting the day with a walk through Kirkcaldy. Not for nothing is it known as The Lang Toun. In common with many of the former industrial towns in Fife it looks in need of further regeneration. Similar landscapes lay immediately ahead in the coalfield towns, so I rode a bus as far as Leven. Its long sandy beach led me to Lower Largo, birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, Defoe’s inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.
The Crusoe Hotel and harbour at Lower Largo
Leaving the village along a disused railway line, I said goodbye to the industrial scar tissue and entered a coastline of calcareous sand dunes and long curving beaches separated by low rocky headlands. After a short steep climb to the tumbled remains of WW2 defences, I looked down on the golf course at Elie. The village exhibits a wide variety of domestic architecture, and there are a couple of essential shops and refreshment places. I continued the extra mile or two to St Monans, where I asked about B&B and was pointed towards Braeside, where Helen and Jim’s splendid house ticked every box.
“…calcareous sand dunes and long curving beaches…” (Beyond Lower
Largo)
Elie Golf Course and village