We arrived at the Monturpie Guest House in Upper Largo late in the day. Our host Duncan had just come in from plowing the fields, getting ready for spring planting. He showed us to our room then we were treated to tea and cookies in the lounge. This was another special place. We had a huge, beautiful room and there was a spacious guest lounge overlooking the Firth of Forth. This picture is looking into the hills from the front of the house. We had an excellent dinner in the village and Sidney was brave enough to try blood pudding, which turned out to be delicious. |
In the morning, we drove to Pittenween. The plan was to leave the car, take the bus to Crail and walk back down the coast. We waited for the bus, only to watch it barrel past us. Oops, we were on the wrong corner. We decided to taxi up. On the long ride to Crail (were we really going to walk this?), we told our chatty driver our walking plans. He promptly handed us his card, in case we bailed out and needed a ride back to the car! This is the Pittenween harbor. |
We were lucky to have a bright and beautiful day. We walked and walked with the gleaming sea on our left and rolling farmland on our right. We passed new planted fields and cow pastures. At one point we were surprised to find thousands of small potatoes that a tractor had pushed down the hill into the sea. We crossed stiles, walked on the beach and watched the sea birds. Eventually we came to the small town of Anstruther. |
Anstruther is a town with a lot of character. The harbor was busy with every variety of boat. The street on the harbor had a lot of interesting shops and everywhere, there were school children in bright red blazers eating lunch and playing. |
We left Anstruther, beginning to feel the distance we were walking. We had a short discussion, foreswearing not to call the taxi. Happily, we were soon to encounter the high point of the walk - the High Health Pig Farm. |
In the world of pigs, this is as good as it gets. The pigs had neat little quanset huts when they wanted to get out of the weather, lots of room to run, places to wallow, and an unbeatable view of the sea. There were enchanting pink piglets racing around in gangs, looking for trouble. They made me think of puppies. Though we weren't allowed in the fields, we talked a while with the head pig man and learned lots about pigs. He said they're just like people - some smart, some not, some crabby, some sweet. The job of the sows is to have lots of piglets, and the job of the piglets is to have fun until it's time to turn into bacon. It made me reconsider breakfast the next morning. |
We left the coast, drove across Scotland. Along the way, we encountered a field of very friendly Scottish Highland cows. They are small for cows, despite all that hair, and acted like large, friendly dogs. |
We spent the night near Loch Lomond, then took off for the Lake District the next morning. |
Return to the England trip home page. |
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