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 
The bull is a bit of a mean looking creature. I like the rock formations and the colours though I have to agree with Heyjude’s comment about the harbour – it looks nice enough but I’ve seen and photographed much prettier ones.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably a bit of hyperbole on the part of the tourist board there!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That little harbor looks difficult to get one’s boat in and out of. It’s quite charming so I can see why they want to promote it. The sea salt business might help with that. Thanks for the lovely excursion!
LikeLike
Thanks for coming along!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The rock formations were very impressive! But it all looked nice to me….
LikeLike
The rocks were fascinating, but I agree – the whole walk was nice.
LikeLike
As always, I enjoy walking with you. Fine looking bull. The grand rock formations. And the gulls, hawk, and cormorant. Except for the sea, you could have been walking in Colorado! Glad you and John are well.
LikeLike
Thanks Claudia! The red rocks do have a similarity, don’t they? But on nothing like the scale of course.
LikeLike
just stunning – thoroughly enjoyed these walks with you.
LikeLike
Thank you for coming along!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the virtual travel. I love the caves (or arches) and the bulls!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The caves / arches are so intriguing. I’m glad the bull was securely behind a fence, but he didn’t seem too interested in us anyway. He was lying in the same position on the way out and the way back – quite a lazy bull!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sea salt is getting trendy again as is blue health therapy. Not been on that part of the coast for a few years now so I hope it’s still a quiet place. I must admit I was slightly scunnered when Countryfile featured Blue health benefits a few days ago on TV as I prefer my coastlines and beaches quiet and there’s not many empty places left in the UK to escape into now. That’s normally my guaranteed sunshine coast for summer visits so its strange to see it grey and cold looking.
LikeLike
I hadn’t heard of the blue health concept – but I get the principle! The coast was quiet in October but a) cold and b) pandemic so might be a different story when circumstances change.
LikeLike
Those sandstone formations really are intriguing. Lovely places, as always. We’re just mucking about on our muddy/icy road these days.
LikeLike
So are we, so it’s very good to have this to look back on.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why is Crail one of the UK’s most photographed harbours? I mean it looks nice enough, but there are several Cornish ones I can think of which are much prettier. Thank you for showing me Bass Rock. When we were in Dunbar and North Berwick there was such a thick fog that we couldn’t see anything of this famous rock. I see from the map that it is actually closer to where you were.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, my authority is the Welcome to Fife website! Do you think they might be a tad biased?😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Haha… possibly 😅
LikeLiked by 1 person
You walks are so beautiful! The first few pictures could have been taken along the Southern California coast, then I got to the cows… not so much :). Those caves look endlessly fascinating!
LikeLiked by 1 person
And I suspect your coast might be somewhat warmer too!
LikeLiked by 2 people