Walk #1 Kirkcaldy to West Wemyss

Fife holiday 2026 #2

Our first walk was from the town of Kirkcaldy to Leven, some 10.5 miles along the Fife Coastal Path. I realise now I've got home that my photos don't necessarily form a good 'narrative'. There are some (with hindsight) obvious things that might have been explanatory that I didn't think to take. For instance, walking through the town of Kirkcaldy I took barely a single photo, though there were interesting sights. We were walking at a good pace and it's necessary to 'keep up' with the group, so I was basically firing off random shots on the go. Even so, they had to keep stopping to wait for me and other stragglers to catch up. Nothing more annoying, I guess, than walking with a photographer! 😬 Everyone was very kind about it though. 

I did spot and capture this little bit of history below. Linen began to be produced in Kirkcaldy in the 17th century. This led to the manufacture of floorcloths, a kind of waxed cloth used to protect floors, which then turned to the manufacture of linoleum in the 1870s. Kirkcaldy soon became the largest producer of linoleum in the world, right through to the mid-1960s. The main manufacturer was Michael Nairn and Co, and we passed the grand facade of one of the old factory buildings. 

We traversed gardens around Ravenscraig Castle (top picture), started around 1460 and one of the first Scottish castles to be built to withstand cannon fire. Ironically, its founder King James II was killed in an accident with a cannon so it was his widow, Mary of Guelder, who proceeded to oversee the construction. There were nice glimpses of the sea, quite a thrill initially for this land-locked lass. (Saltaire is right in the middle of the country, miles from the coast, so I miss the sea, fresh sea air, sea birds...) 

We quite quickly arrived at the next little village, Dysart, with its pretty harbour, its economy founded on fishing and the production of salt to keep fish fresh. 

The tower belonged to the (now mostly demolished) St Serfs Church and the 16th and 18th century painted dwellings on Pan Ha' (ground of the salt pans) have been restored by the National Trust for Scotland. 

A little further along the walk we could see the red-painted headstocks of the former Francis Colliery, with the next village, West Wemyss, on the headland beyond. This was quite a significant coal-mining area between the mid-1800s and 1988 when the last of some fifty pits closed. 

Looking back from just beyond Dysart, the view is up the Firth of Forth, with Edinburgh somewhere in the far distance. You can perhaps see the island of Inchkeith, about a third in on the left, on the horizon. We were being chased by rain but fortunately it kept out to sea and we didn't get wet.