In preparation for our upcoming visit to Yosemite National Park, I have been reading John Muir’s book on The Yosemite. Born in Dunbar, Scotland in 1838, John Muir moved with his parents to America and spent his life exploring, recording and protecting the beautiful areas of wilderness that became, in part thanks to him, America’s National Parks. He was an amazing and adventurous man, and his love of nature shines through in his vivid descriptions of the mountains, waterfalls, flora and fauna of the Yosemite Valley.
How appropriate then, that on his 180th birthday (yesterday, 21st April) James and I should go on a beautiful walk along the Fife Coastal path and share in his love of the outdoors. We set off reasonably early and after the hour and a half’s journey we were just in time to catch the ten to ten bus from Crail to Boarhills. We then walked back to Crail which was 15 km along the coast. The weather was beautiful with a gentle breeze and it was an absolutely brilliant day. The sea was a gorgeous deep blue with tiny choppy waves, and we sauntered along sandy beaches and rocky coves, and past several golf courses. At one point a golf ball smacked into the sand just beside us and we threw it back to a grateful golfer. We spotted a memorial stone which marked the place where Mary Queen of Scots’ mother, Marie de Guise, had landed by boat in Scotland on her way to marry James V in 1538. We gathered wee smooth pieces of translucent sea glass from the tide line. We saw stone ripples in the rocks formed by ancient rivers. We lay down on the grass at Fife Ness to relax in the sunshine for a while. When we arrived in Crail we had tea and scones sitting outside the Crail Harbour Gallery in its small sunny garden overlooking the sea.
It was such a good day and it was great to be outside for so long.
To quote birthday boy John Muir,
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”
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