The Fife Coastal Path: Kincardine to Cairneyhill

Monday 23rd August 2021

I have heard many good things about the Fife Coastal Path, so for many years I have had a desire to do the walk, and when I was trying to decide what to do on this holiday I eventually decided that now was the time when I would finally do this long distance trail. I had been staying in Dalkeith Country Park, south-east of Edinburgh, so first thing in the morning I caught a bus into the city and a coach from there over the Forth Road Bridge to Halbeath Park & Ride where I caught another coach that took me to Kincardine at the start of the Fife Coastal Path. However, rather than being excited at starting the trail, I was distracted by two related problems. Firstly, I was desperate for a toilet and couldn’t find one in Kincardine and secondly, the bottom of my rucksack was wet. Initially I thought the latter was due to it sitting on wet grass, but I eventually realised my water bladder was leaking. With these two pressing concerns on my mind I headed out of the small town and under the arch near Kincardine Bridge that marks the start of the Fife Coastal Path. Unfortunately the weather was not great with heavy mist that obscured all views leaving dull, grey overcast skies overhead.

After a frustrating half a mile I eventually managed to find somewhere discreet to stop and solve my first problem and then I moved my water bladder to a place where it would be less compressed and hopefully not leak. My biggest problem on this walk was not so easy to fix and that was the excessive weight of my rucksack. While I was in the Lake District earlier in the year, I had skimped on weight as much as possible, but for this holiday I wasn’t supposed to be walking with my full rucksack, so I’d filled it with as much stuff as I liked. I had not planned on starting the Fife Coastal Path until the next day, but then I changed my mind thinking that if I could get a head start on the trail then I would have more time later in the holiday to do some walking elsewhere. This was disastrous as you can’t walk very quickly or very far with a heavy rucksack. Very, very slowly I made my way beside quiet roads passing the disused Longannet Power Station until I eventually came alongside a now seldom used railway line that runs beside the coast.

The Fife Coastal Path follows the railway for several miles where I was provided with my first glimpse across the mud flats out into the misty estuary of the Firth of Forth. This was an awesome sight and kept me going as I wearily dragged myself along the trail until I reached the village of Culross where I was finally able to stop for lunch beside a very large anchor in a playground. After eating I resumed my shuffle along the trail soon reaching the Valleyfield Lagoons that were created from the ash leftover from the combustion of coal at the power station. This is now a nature reserve and there are paths around the artificial island, which was interesting to look at, but I just stayed on the coastal path beside the railway line eventually passing over the line and reaching a road that took me into the village of Newmills. I was now becoming very weak and my rucksack was beginning to crush me as I followed the road under the railway line and out into the stunning views across Torry Bay while the sun finally came out. I was aching with every inward breath, but for the moment the stunning views across the bay kept me going.

There were beautiful wildflowers beside the path and stunning views across the bay as I followed a path along the edge, but all too soon I had to leave the coast and climb agonisingly steeply up the hill to Crombie Church. After more than seven miles of flat walking while carrying a heavy rucksack, this was agonising and I was now really struggling to breathe, so I resorted to lifting the rucksack with my hands just so I could breathe. I knew I would not be able to go on for much longer like this. When I reached the junction with the A985 road I turned left, instead of right, off the Fife Coastal Path and walked into the village of Cairneyhill where I waited for a bus. My original plan for my first day on the trail was to do about sixteen miles as far as the Ferrytoll Park & Ride, but this was never going to be possible now as I was supposed to be at my campsite by five o’clock. When I reached Cairneyhill, I realised I had just missed a bus and had to wait a long time for another one and it took so long for get me to Leven that I didn’t reach the campsite until just after five o’clock, so I was getting phone calls to find out where I was.

With hindsight, I should not have started the Fife Coastal Path on this day. Instead I should have spent a leisurely morning exploring Dalkeith Country Park before slowly making my way to Edinburgh, where I could have spent some time looking around the city, before catching the coaches across the Forth to Fife and reached Leven mid-afternoon with plenty of time to check in. It is curious how badly my heavy rucksack affected me on this walk as this is not the first time I have struggled with a heavy rucksack, but previously it has not been as disastrous as on this walk. I wondered if it would have helped if I’d been using my walking poles, but we’ll never know. Looking to the positives, I had started the Fife Coastal Path, which I had been looking forward to doing for many years, eventually doing about eight miles and despite the misty weather conditions I enjoyed some spectacular coastal scenery that I was looking forward to continuing in the following days with a much, much lighter rucksack.

The Dalkeith Musselburgh walking path and Arthur’s Seat

Sunday 22nd August 2021

Since I hadn’t been to Scotland last year, I was looking forward to finally making a return visit after more than two years since I was last in that lovely nation, so it was with great excitement that I caught the train to Edinburgh, even though despite my long absence, mountains were not to be my primary goal on this holiday. When I got off the train it was raining, so I immediately caught a bus to the town of Dalkeith where I was camping in Dalkeith Country Park. Once I had put up my tent and despite the rain continuing to fall, I set off for a walk around the park following the purple topped posts of the Old Wood Walk beside the River South Esk to the Meeting of the Waters with the River North Esk where I turned to follow the latter back upstream to Dalkeith Palace. My first proper walk of the holiday started the next day after the rain had stopped, though it was still grey and overcast when I set off from Dalkeith along the route of a trail that is marked on Ordnance Survey maps as Penicuik to Musselburgh Cycle-Walkway. This mouthful is not found anywhere else on the internet where other names for the trail can be found including on the Midlothian Council website where it is called the Dalkeith Musselburgh walking path.

Crossed the River South Esk I passed Dalkeith School campus onto an old railway line that provided me with a relaxing walk over level terrain along a tarmac track that was lined with many wild flowers including knapweed and rosebay willowherb that served to keep my interest. After passing under the A68 road, I walked through a wooded area before reaching the village of Whitecraig where I followed the cycle signs for National Cycle Route 1 beside the road until the trail came off the road to descend to the side of the River Esk as it makes its way towards the coast. Now the dominant flower was balsam, which although invasive, is at least sweet smelling. When National Cycle Route 1 crosses the river to head towards Edinburgh, I stayed beside the river that now became more tidal with coastal sounds becoming more noticeable. As the river broadened, wildfowl became a common sight as the river passed through Musselburgh until finally I reached the sea, beside Fisherrow Sands. Although the views were very hazy onto the Firth of Forth, there was still had a great sight across the broad sands. I was now on the route of the John Muir Way, which is a coast to coast path that goes from Dunbar on the east coast, where John Muir was born, to Helensburgh, where John Muir set sail to emigrate from Scotland to the United States.

Turning west along the John Muir Way, I walked beside the coast into the city of Edinburgh and into beautiful, overgrown scenery beside Brunstane Burn. I had to be careful on this path as it was very narrow and there would often be cycles coming the other way that I had to avoid. The sun had, by this time, begun to break through the clouds and this was providing me with a lovely walk through the delightfully overgrown landscape. After the stream became Niddrie Burn, I found an area on the bank where wildflower seeds had been thickly sown producing a fabulous kaleidoscope of colours that was much better than the invasive balsam that seemed to be elsewhere beside the stream. The trail continued towards the city centre, now joined by National Cycle Route 1, as I passed Duddingston Loch on the route of another old railway line with the fearsome crags of Arthur’s Seat looming before me. Just as a tunnel mouth appeared, the John Muir Way branched off, but I fearlessly plunged into the tunnel and it was quite exciting. The 523 metre tunnel is richly decorated with graffiti and is on a steady incline of one in thirty until it finally deposited me in the middle of a modern housing estate.

After some confusion I managed to find my way out of the estate and into Holyrood Park where Arthur’s Seat stood tantalisingly close, but first I stopped to have my lunch. Unfortunately, while I was eating, mist came over and obscured the top of the hill, so when I set off up the path I soon disappeared into the clouds. Climbing steeply up, I followed the path from the Hawse that zigzags up the popular hill to the top of the broad south top before proceeding up to the tiny, crowded summit. Just as I leaving the summit, someone asked me if this was the route down to Holyroodhouse and I had to confess that I had no idea as I’d never been to the top of Arthur’s Seat before (he thought I looked like I knew what I was doing). I remember starting the ascent as a child, but we never reached the top so I’m glad to have finally made it, but it was a shame that I had no view and that the summit was so crowded, though that was inevitable since it was a Sunday. I tried to avoid the crowds coming down and find my own way, but that ultimately proved that I didn’t know where I was going and I ended up at Dunsapie Loch to the east of Arthur’s Seat, so I had to climb back up to pass over Whinny Hill, to the north, only to find very steep, treacherous ground on the descent to St Margaret’s Loch.

Passing the loch, I headed to the Palace of Holyroodhouse with the Scottish Parliament building on the other side of the road where I wondered what I would do next. After a short walk up the Royal Mile, I thought about a hill that I had seen during the descent of Arthur’s Seat and came off the Royal Mile to pass the new UK Government building of Queen Elizabeth House down to the railway line before climbing a staircase known as Jacob’s Ladder. Not far from the top of the staircase is St Andrew’s House, where the Scottish Government is based, and across the road is Calton Hill, where I had extensive views towards Arthur’s Seat and the old town of Edinburgh, while to the north, I had extensive views across the new town of Edinburgh and towards the misty Firth of Forth. There are also plenty of memorials dotted around the top of the hill, but these were not as interesting to me as the views, despite the haze. Coming back down, I made my way to Princes Street Gardens with an idea of heading up to the top of Castle Rock, the third craggy hill in the centre of Edinburgh, but when I noticed the rapidly advancing time, I decided not to bother wondering aimlessly around Edinburgh any longer and to catch a bus back to Dalkeith.

This was a great walk to start my holiday in Scotland. It was wonderfully relaxing to do the Dalkeith to Musselburgh path before the steep climbs up Arthur’s Seat and Calton Hill. I have not previously had the time to explore Edinburgh as I am usually just passing through, so I have appreciated the opportunity, especially Arthur’s Seat, which I had actually planned to do at the end of my holiday at Easter last year.