GB07-4. Burntisland, county Fife, Scotland

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As I'm writing this in May from memory about a trip in March, I have to get my dates right. I left my place by car in the centre of France on Monday 19 June to overnight in Amiens, France. Then Rugby, England, on Tuesday night, Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday night. It means I arrived in Burntisland, Scotland, on Thursday night 22 March. The Bed and Breakfast I pulled in front of was indeed very nice. See: www.gruinardguesthouse.co.uk

Tired but happy I put my feet up sipping a nice cup of tea with biscuits in my confortable bedroom. I opened the hard cover single line exercise book I had bought 2 days before and started a 'diary'... I wrote 10 pages of it! This trip was to connect back with myself, with the basic adventurous carefree nomad that I am. About dinner I didn't care to go out again and so, had another cup of nice tea with more biscuits before I went to bed.

In the morning of Friday 23 March I went to have the promised breakfast in the veranda. Fantastic! I hadn't had such a traditional English breakfast for years: homemade muesli, fruit juices, lovely tea, coffee on offer, a big plate of bacon and eggs plus sausages, toasts of various breds, scones, jams. Have I forgotten something? The hostess must have been disappointed that I didn't eat the two sausages. This is where I find I'm French at times. English and French sausages taste drastically different. I remember Scottish friends of mine in France in the late 70s who used to say they would never get to like the French sausages. Ah well!

I decided to stay another day in such cosy circumstances and booked again for the night. The hostess, Jeanny, advised me to take the coastal walk to the next town called Aberdour, some 3 and a half miles away. I could come back by bus. I did that. The thing is that the sign posts for the track are few and far between. At one stage I got lost in a block of buildings and found the old castle where Mary Queen of Scots and a French poet frolicked back in the 1500s or so. It's been renovated and is now used by a firm of architects. I also came across a new housing development. The north shore of the firth of Forth seems to be in full swing! No wonder. People working in Edinburgh can comute this far by train in under half an hour.

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Photos

The firth of Forth
North shore of the firth at Burntisland looking east towards the North sea

1. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour

2. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour

3. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour

4. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour

5. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour, the old castle

6. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour

7. Burntisland, Scotland
On the coastal track to Aberdour, granite boulder on the beach

8. Burntisland, Scotland
Jeanny at Gruinard Bed and Breakfast

Burntisland, Scotland
Frankie in front of a waterfall on the coastal walking track

Burntisland, Scotland
Frankie in front of a traditional English breakfast