Scotland by Rail - Burntisland to Dalmeny on Fife Coastal Path

At the weekend we walked the Fife Coastal Path from Burntisland to North Queensferry, walking the Forth (Road) Bridge and train home from Dalmeny.

It's a great section of the path because every town you pass through has a station - Burntisland, Aberdour, Dalgety Bay, Inverkeithing, North Queensferry. If you get tired/hurt your knee/spend too much time looking through binoculars you can cut short at any of these stations. There are also stations in Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy, the first two towns north of Burntisland, so take your pick.


We didn't meet anyone we knew but received and exchanged many friendly hello's. At Dalgety Bay we spoke with a Swarovski-laden man, me asking if anything especially interesting was around, him telling of a little auk that's been out on the water, and of how good the bay is for waders. They had their first little egret this year. We saw oystercatchers, curlew, redshank, heron, mallard, shelduck, wigeon, assorted gulls. The whole way there's wildlife; a mixed mistle thrush - redwing flock on wires west of Aberdour; red-breasted mergansers displaying, head and necks up, on the water at various points; tinkling teal, a mute swan, redshank and goldeneyem all at Inverkeithing where a small river flows into Inner Bay, and tens of oystercatchers and curlew and gulls on the playing fields there; a green woodpecker, unexpectedly, that landed in a tree below the railway line just south of Inverkeithing.


I did no sketching and I took very few photos.


The graves of St Bridget's Kirk (built originally in the 1100's, Historic Scotland, free) were the main thing I did photograph. Stones from the 17th and 18th centuries, skulls aplenty. A good Scotland-by-Rail trip by itself, train to Dalgety Bay and walk east, or Aberdour and walk west, and a perfect spot to have your picnic whilst looking for birds on the near shore and to Dalmeny Estate on the far shore. As a child I came here at least several times with mum, dad and Roan, and with our big group of family friends.

 

 

St Bridget's Kirk

creature in the woods

We finished with chips walking along South Queensferry High Street and shore, the Forth (Rail) Bridge illuminations spreading an orange glow through light drizzle.

When we got off the train in Burntisland I found I'd badly hurt my left knee.

moss garden

This section of Fife Coastal path is really well served by ScotRail services. Timetables here, click on Edinburgh-Fife.

which might be Stinking hellibore (Helleborus foetidus) ?