The Fife Coastal Path: Leven to Crail

Thursday 26th August 2021

To continue my trek along the Fife Coastal Path on this day I didn’t need to catch a bus anywhere since on the previous day I had finished the walk in Leven, which is where I stayed for the whole of my time in the Kingdom of Fife. Therefore, all I needed to do was to return to the seafront and I would immediately be able to continue along the coastal path. Earlier in the week the days had started misty and foggy and only cleared later, but on this walk there was no fog and just a little cloud that eventually cleared to reveal a gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies to accompany the fabulous scenery on this stretch of the coast. When I had reached Leven the previous day the tide had been in, but now the tide was on its way out so I was able to walk out onto the sands for a lovely walk along the sandy beach, before eventually coming off back onto the footpath and across a golf course into the small village of Lundin Links that merges into the village of Lower Largo. After passing a statue of Alexander Selkirk who was the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe and was born in Lower Largo, I left the village on the course of the Fife Coastal Railway until I reached Dumbarnie Links Wildlife Reserve. There I dropped back down onto the beach and was unable to resist the opportunity to cross the sands right up to the gently lapping sea thereby cutting the corner, slightly, of the wide sweep of Largo Bay.

I had tremendous views across the sands and thoroughly enjoyed my walk beside the sea, but eventually crossed the sands again to take a path that crosses Cocklemill Burn and through a line of trees to pass through Elie Holiday Park. On the far side of the caravan park the path continues around Shell Bay to Kincraig Point where I had an awesome view before me of a complex, rocky coastline. The path climbs above the crags to the top of Kincraig Hill, but there is an alternative route through the rocky inlets, though at first I missed the steep path down. When I spotted the chains on the route far below me, I retraced my steps and slithered down the eroded path to the start of the Elie Chainwalk. This unique scramble crosses the craggy coastline with the aid of large chains that have been anchored to the rocks and provided me with some exhilarating adventure. The rocky terrain was very grippy and has steps cut into it, but I could not have easily got over the vertical rock faces without the help of the chains. I had never come across this sort of thing before, though they are common in the Alps where they are known as via ferrata, though this chainwalk is relatively easy and does not require the usual equipment (lanyards, helmet, and harness).

I found the Elie Chainwalk exciting, though scary in places and nerve-wracking, but utterly thrilling. It seemed to go on for a long time with no sign of where the route went next, so it was always reassuring when I discovered the next set of chains and towards the end I was wondering how much further it had to go. Eventually the sands of West Bay came into view and I was able to walk away from the Elie Chainwalk having survived the challenge. After crossing the sands of West Bay I climbed up off the beach and around the headland of Chapel Ness into Earlsferry where a prolonged section of road walking took me through the popular harbour town of Elie. Branching off the coastal path I walked around Elie Ness passing a lighthouse and the ruin of Lady’s Tower before continuing along the trail past Sauchar Point. The coast was now very complex and craggy, which I found utterly spellbinding. The sun was bright overhead lighting the stunning scenery of the craggy shoreline perfectly as I made my way beside the coast and this mesmerising landscape would continue for the rest of the day as with every turn more delights opened up before me.

The stunning coastline was punctuated by the occasional village and St. Monans came after Elie and after that was Pittenweem and Anstruther. This last village was slightly larger and more crowded where another prolonged section of road walking was required before I eventually left the narrow streets behind and was back beside the same rocky coastline. The inland scenery was now less wild and more agricultural, or to put it another way: it was more bland. This detracted from the craggy coastline to my right and even this was becoming tedious as it was more of the same that I had been seeing for many miles. The only relief from the monotony was the Cailplie Caves, which are made of red sandstone reminiscent of Wemyss Caves that I had seen earlier in the trail. Eventually I entered the village of Crail and since I had now walked at least twenty miles I decided it was time to head back to Leven. When I checked the time of the next bus I discovered that it wasn’t for another twenty minutes, so I descended to the harbour to have a moment looking out over the sea before climbing back up to the main road to wait for the bus back to Leven.

This was the Fife Coastal Path at its best and fully justified my devoting a whole week of my holiday to walking its length. I was fortunate to have stunning weather and to have the tides falling perfectly that enabled me to explore the sands throughout. The constant tarmac of my first couple of days on the trail was now a distant memory as the delights of the coastal path continued to enthral me. The highlight of this walk was clearly the Elie Chainwalk, which I found to be exciting, terrifying and utterly thrilling. Significantly I was now more than half way along the Fife Coastal Path and I had little more than fifty miles left to go.