2019 Walking Trip: The Channel Islands and Scotland: May 29

He said:
I went out early to look at the beach at low tide and take some photos. The conditions were great; sunny, no wind, and uncrowded.

Later, we went for a hike inland from Kinghorn, stopping at the Kinghorn Loch nature area, and coming back to it later after a 4 mile rural loop on trails and farm roads. It had become quite cloudy and later started to rain, but we loved it.

She Said:
A gorgeous morning - blue skies and bright sunshine, so we decided to go for a walk!
However, by the time we finished breakfast and made ourselves a packed lunch, the sky was completely overcast and gray.
Ah, Scotland.

We headed out and once again walked to the Kinghorn Loch before carrying on to the rest of our walk.
The Loch Conservation group built a Bird Hide, so we veered off the trail and checked it out.
Fabulous find.
Great Crested Grebes nesting, the male dredging pond grasses from below and offering them up to the female who accepts them and then ignores where the male put them and rearranges them on the nest to suit her.
Hmmmm. A cross-species phenomenon, I guess.

A pair of coots doing the same (they are called moor hens here).
A gray heron, looking like our Great Blue but much smaller.
Swans nesting on a manmade pontoon island, but still pretty awesome.
Lots of songbirds.
All in all, a good stop.

We continued on and were rewarded with the kind of country walking that we love - a good path, farm fields of wheat and yellow rapeseed, some woodland and the best, rural, deserted narrow tracks between exquisite stone walls.
Wow.
Cows, deer, pheasants.

And, drizzle. Then light rain.
Still, a perfect country walk.

A piece of forest art to cheer me up. Nothing like coming upon a piece of art in the middle of nowhere to lift the soul.

We crossed the Troll Bridge an took pictures of the creepy but seemingly accurate carved wooden troll sitting under the bridge.
A little further on, we came to the ruins of the Witches Cottage (according to the Kinghorn Pathways Book).
R was a little ahead of me as I stopped to talk with a Scottish couple along the path. We mused that the Witches Cottage was actually pretty big - three large stone rooms. The woman said that being a witch must have paid well and we all decided that she was probably a healer who knew her way around herbs and poultices, so picked up the label “witch” by some superstitious ninnies.
In any case, good for her for having such a nice house in the woods!

Our walk was a loop, so we decided to eat our lunch out of the rain back in the Bird Hide.
Once again, lots of bird entertainment.

It drizzled all the way home and is raining pretty good right now.
We’re off by train to Aberdour, two towns over, for dinner at a supposedly great restaurant with killer views. In fact, the restaurant is called Room With A View.

Not tonight, though. Rain and plenty of mist over the Firth.
We were booked in for tonight by some friends though, so away we go!

More tomorrow.

Total Miles:
6.5 miles

An early morning walk on a sunny beach at low tide