Fife Coastal Path: Cellardyke to Crail
On this walk (or actually, two walks) we left Cellardyke to the east, passing another of those old outdoor bathing pools. This one was apparently popular from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Nearby was the rather dilapidated looking East Neuk Outdoors – a few licks of paint needed I think.
This lady was gazing out to sea from her bench. Was she watching this little lobster fishing boat?
Or simply contemplating the view of the Isle of May, the Bass Rock, and North Berwick Law?
From here we looked back at Cellardyke:
There was bird life aplenty:
And as we neared Caiplie this rather large bull – fortunately behind a fence:
An unusual sandstone outcrop has eroded into Caiplie Caves (and arches) with early Christian crosses carved on the wall of the largest cave. We were fascinated by the shapes and colours here.
The distance from Celladyke to Crail is just under 4 miles and Caiplie is about the half way mark. On the first of these walks we had set out after lunch, and by the time we had finished exploring the caves it was gone 3 o’clock. No way could we walk to Crail and back to Cellardyke before dark (this was October) so we turned round here. A few days later, we walked out to the caves again, this time from Crail, another charming East Neuk fishing village which boasts one of the UK’s most photographed harbours.
We admired the village from its old houses (1632 is the earliest date I can read) to its topical take on the pandemic (masked garden ornaments).
So our two walks met in the middle which meant we had covered the whole section of the Fife Coastal Path from Cellardyke to Crail. Next time is also a tale of two halves with a garden and some glorious sand dunes.
PS in my last post, I mentioned the windmill and old salt pans at St Monans. I was interested to read a BBC article last week about Darren Peattie who aims to restore salt harvesting to the village, two hundred years after it ended, and also plans to reconstruct one of the nine old salt pan houses to turn it into a visitor centre.
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
I came to this from Googling Cellardyke to Crail walk,I plan to drive from Glasgow and have a good old jaunt to myself leaving my car in Crail and bus it to Cellardyke and walk back.
Anabel,your blog has given me the incentive to “do it!” instead of thinking about it, your words and nice photos of the viewpoints are very informative, thanks.
Regards,
Andy.
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Fabulous! I hope you enjoy the walk.
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I can see why you spent a long time exploring those sandstone rock formations and caves!
Jude
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They are wonderful, aren’t they!
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The mere mention of Bass Rock brings back pangs of disappointment (can you have pangs of disappointment?). It is one of the legendary places to view seabirds, not only in Britain, but around the world, and when I last visited the UK I had plans to go there and the trip was cancelled due to inclement weather. It didn’t look stormy enough to me to cancel, and the slightly rough conditions would only have enhanced the experience, but I suppose the captain has to take into account those with sensitive stomachs and less enthusiasm for a true seabirding adventure.
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I think you can have pangs of disappointment! We have never landed on Bass Rock, but we did take a trip round it a few years ago, which might interest you:
https://glasgowgallivanter.com/2015/05/10/north-berwick-2/
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I’m late here but always love reading your blog and loving these pictures. I especially love the photo of the lady on the bench.
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She looks so relaxed and content.
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Crail looks from your photos, just as beautiful to me as Robin Hoods Bay or Staithes in Yorkshire. Definitely somewhere I would love to visit. X
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I think it’s very pretty but maybe looks prettier in the sunshine!
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