Fife holiday 2026 #8
As the light got murkier and the rain got heavier, we were glad to approach Anstruther, the largest of the East Neuk fishing ports. It made its fortune from catching herring but now relies on tourism. The harbour here was filled with leisure boats and yachts. Can you see the rain pitting the water? By now we were pretty soggy so we found a bus shelter large enough to hold all of us while we ate our packed lunches! Not the most salubrious setting but at least we could draw breath and adjust our clothing and damp backpacks.
Somewhere on the way out of Anstruther, as it segues into Cellardyke, we passed this sculpture of a shoal of fish, crafted in metal by local artist Marion Smith.
A little further on, one of the small cottages had a lively display of Saltire flags, marking their delight (I guess) at Scotland's place in the World Cup football tournament.
As we left the villages, the path along the seashore became quite attractive, with lots of wild flowers. These are sea pinks/thrift - so pretty.
There were some interesting weathered and sea-worn rock formations too, with holes and arches, known as the Caiplie Caves or The Cove. They are said to have links to the monks like St Adrian who had a monastery on the Isle of May, and one of them was home to a hermit prior to WWII.
Eventually our familiar 'home' harbour at Crail came into view. This part of the coastal path walk from St Monan's to Crail was in total about 8 miles and is possibly one of the more interesting stretches, passing through all the historic fishing villages. The wet conditions made it somewhat less appealing than it might have been so I was glad I'd spent time the day before exploring parts of it in more detail. Ironically the rain eased off as we returned to Crail. Isn't that often the way?
Some of the larger houses on the cliffs at the west end of Crail had lovely gardens. We enjoyed this riot of lupins, their colours straight out of a paintbox.
Then a wet day turned into a gorgeous evening, with golden light that gave way to a wonderful sky later in the evening. We watched a big cruise ship coming down the Firth of Forth. I've done a bit of sleuthing and I've discovered it's a Cunard ship, Queen Anne, leaving a stop-over in Edinburgh on a cruise around the British Isles. Hooray for the internet!
