A blistering pace in Fife

James is organising a coastal walk in Fife for the hill-walking club, which will take place in May. So today we walked the route in order to check on timings and any changes that may have taken place on the route, like diversions, fallen rocks etc. This is good practice and I always did this when planning Duke of Edinburgh routes. We parked the car at attractive Dysart Harbour, and took a bus to Leven and then a second bus to Lundin Links. This may sound complicated but it went like clockwork; there was only fifteen minutes to wait between buses, and soon we were walking along the coast southwards from Lundin Links. It was a warm but breezy day and it stayed dry the whole time, even though we could see sheets of rain coming out of clouds on the other side of the Forth estuary. After a pleasant walk along the beach, we had about an hour of walking through Methil and Buckhaven, which was a bit too much pavement walking, but we were rewarded when we came back to the proper coast at Buckhaven Bay. From then on it was back to beautiful coastal walking all the way, with rocks, beaches, pretty villages and sea views.
As we passed through Buckhaven we saw a little plaque on a wall beside a mature apple orchard; it explained that the orchard had grown from apple cores thrown over the wall by patrons of the local cinema and by railway passengers, during the first half of the 20th century. I thought that it was lovely that the orchard has remained as their legacy.
And as we approached the outskirts of Dysart as we neared the end of our journey, we paused to look at the memorial to those who died at the Frances Colliery. While we were standing there, a man of about our own age joined us, and told us that he had worked in the mine for about five years in the 1970s. He pointed out the name Alan Liston, who had died in 1978, who had been a friend of his. He said that Alan, and another miner whose name was also on the memorial, had been hit by a runaway minecart; one had died instantly and the other when he was being taken back up to the surface. He told us more about the mine and how it went on fire during the miners’ strike in 1984. James and I both come from mining families in Lanarkshire and we both felt moved to think about all the deaths that have taken place in this very dangerous industry.
We made very good speed on our walk; four hours for 17 km including a couple of short stops. Perhaps I was a little too enthusiastic with my speed because I ended up with a large blister on the ball of my right foot. There was nothing wrong with my trail shoes, I think it was just because it was a longer walk than I have undertaken for a while. We celebrated with a flask of coffee and some excellent tablet, and were home in time for a tasty dinner of chicken kebabs, cooked for us by Alasdair.