A Day in the Fife of Scotland

Hello again!

Our tour guide extraordinaire, Mhairi, has been at it again. Last Sunday she took us day-tripping around the southern bit of the Fife coast. For those who don't know, that's across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.

We visited Kirkcaldy first (Mhairi's home town, where her folks still live) and then on to Elie, where we met Mhairi's friends Fiona and Bernard and did the world famous (in Fife) Elie Chain Walk. It's a really fun coastal scramble with great views across the Firth, and it gets its name from the big stainless steel chains that have been placed in strategic locations so you don't fall off! We had made sure that we weren't too far after the low tide to avoid any unneccesary excitement - I think if I do it again I'll time it a bit later to get the added fun of the waves lapping at my feet.

Mhairi then took us around some of the small Fife fishing villages, where we met up with Fiona and Bernard again for an icecream. The villages were cool, they looked very Mediterranean with their pastel-coloured houses lined up along the waterfront. Most of the fisihing industry here has died so there's not too much happening these days.

Our final stop on the tour was St Andrews ("The Home of Golf"). We didn't have all that long but it was enough time to quickly check out the golf course (along with the most photographed footbridge in the world - we didn't take a photo), the castle and the abbey.