Monday 30th August 2021
On the day before this walk I finished the Fife Coastal Path after seven days on the trail, but I still had another day in the Kingdom of Fife. When I had planned my accommodation in Silverburn Park, near Leven, I had intended on starting the Fife Coastal Path on the Tuesday and with hindsight that would have been better, but instead I actually started the trail on the day before while travelling from Edinburgh to Leven. I should have spent more time in Dalkeith Country Park and Edinburgh before heading to Silverburn Park so I could arrive there on time and not tried to walk along the trail while carrying a heavy rucksack. I had been thinking I could use this spare day to do some walking elsewhere in Fife, perhaps over the Lomond Hills, which are the highest hills in the county. In the end, since the Fife Coastal Path had completely worn me out, I didn’t want to do much walking on this day, so I decided to do something around Leven. From Silverburn Park, I headed past the golf courses to the outskirts of Leven where I turned right along a footpath beside Scoonie Burn that took me into Letham Glen Park.
Initially this was your typical ornamental park with many flower displays, but the path soon passed into dense woodland with surroundings that were more wild and so more appealing to me. I had an enjoyable walk through the woodland of this narrow valley until I reached the end whereupon I turned around and headed back through the glen. It was lovely to be walking through natural, wild scenery, which is something I have increasingly appreciated over the previous eighteen months. It has been vital for my mental health to get out into wild landscape during this time as it provides such a calming and relaxing effect on me at a time when I was forced to spend so much time at home. When I reached the end of the woodland walk I climbed out of the park onto Sillerhole Road. While wandering along this road that becomes Linnwood Drive, I checked on the internet for other walks in the area and found a reference to Kennoway Den, but since I had not planned anything for this day, I didn’t have a map of the area so I was reliant on Google Maps to guide me.
At the end of Linnwod Drive I crossed a road onto a path that passes a large number of warehouses that reminded me of those I have seen at distilleries and Google Maps confirmed my suspicions as the warehouses are labelled Diageo Global Supply. This was a very relaxing walk on a tarmac path between the warehouses and farmland with the sun that had been hiding behind clouds now starting to break through. After swinging away from the warehouses, the path heads to Kennoway and passes alongside the community until it reaches a point where I could come off the path and onto a road near a sign that marks the start of the Kennoway Den walk. Initially this walk was not very promising as the path followed a small burn with a farmer’s field on the other side, but soon the valley deepened with wooded sides that developed into a pleasant walk that simply got better and better. Rock faces appeared with short caves as the valley turned left and right through the gorgeous woodland landscape. I had a really enjoyable walk through the delightful natural surroundings of Kennoway Den as the burn slowly climbs with an excellent footpath that always provided me with easy access through the dramatic scenery.
Eventually the path began to climb above the stream that now plunged into a deep, dark ravine until the path reached a road near Auchtermairnie. Realising that the path goes no further, I turned around and headed back down the valley, much to my delight, enjoying the walk once again despite the earlier sunshine having now gone leaving gloomier skies. Veering to the east of the stream I came out onto a grassy area near some houses and keeping beside the stream I walked along the edge of the grass and returned to the main road where I had started the walk through Kennoway Den. These had both been very enjoyable and relaxing walks through wonderfully wild wooded glens, but it was now only twelve o’clock and I had no idea how to fill the rest of the day. Returning to the path that I had been on earlier, which at this point is an old railway line, I turned right heading down this path under a road and near to an area identified by Google Maps as Cameron Wood where there used to another old railway line, but I don’t recall seeing any sign of it. Instead I crossed over the River Leven and walked along the top of a pipeline that parallels the river until eventually the pipeline crosses the river and I was left to find my own way through the overgrowth and past a recent housing development.
With a faint path to follow I ploughed on until stopped by a tall fence surrounding a water treatment works that forced me to turn right and climb up to the road opposite a bus depot. I was now able to make my way back into Leven where I had my lunch, but I was preoccupied with some blisters that I had recently acquired on my toes. As I headed off again I was in quite a bit of pain so I returned to Silverburn Park where I tended to my injuries while sat beside my tent. Since I refuse to waste an afternoon, I got out my walking pole and hobbling like an old man I made my way back onto the beach using the pole for support and gradually it became easier for me to walk as I crossed the sands up to the sea. Despite the overcast skies, it was great to be back on the beach and I was reminded of the walks I had done during the previous week on the Fife Coastal Path, so as a memorial to that trail I headed along the beach until I ran out of sands and crossed the rocks to the mouth of Kiel Burn below Lower Largo. Unable to keep going along the coast, I climbed up into the village and continued to climb up to the main road where I turned left and followed it all the way back to Silverburn Park. This walk ended a fabulous week in the Kingdom of Fife where I enjoyed some fabulous walking with great weather every day and I appreciated the chance to relax on this day to recover from my exertions of the previous week.
No comments:
Post a Comment