Day 5 - Golf and gowns
Like Inverness Dundee was an expensive place to spend the night. Premier Inns were off the scale and, if you wanted somewhere reasonably central that wasn’t a hostel, it was £100 plus. I ended up with a deal at Travelodge Strathmore road, not in the centre but it sufficed. I had a dinner, bed and breakfast deal for £110 and then had to pay an extra £3.50 for Wi-fi for the night. I chose a curry (an extra £1.50) and a sticky toffee pudding. The latter with custard was good but the curry disappointing. A pint of Guiness set me back a further £6.85. I had walked 5 minutes down to the local convenience store to buy a bottle of Californian Zinfandel for £5.99 and it accompanied the blog very well. Only one double socket in the room meant that I had to think about how I was going to charge everything, especially as I used the fan to dry clothes again.
Breakfast was help yourself to cereals, cooked and pastries. Better scrambled egg than PI but no black pudding or haggis. I filled up and left contented.
I had not realised quite what a steep hill I climbed to reach the hotel and I hared straight down it on my way to see three of Dundee’s most famous residents. The streets were almost empty at 0900 on Sunday morning and I was able to take the picture with no photo bombers apart from the pigeons.
Dundee is famous for Jute, Jam and Journalism and the Dandy and Beano are part of the last epithet. D.C Thompson are still publishing the Beano but the Dandy is, since 2013, only produced as an annual.
I had wondered about spending a morning in Dundee to see the SS Discovery and a Jute Mill experience but the forecast was for heavy rain starting at 4pm and the museums didn’t open until 11am, which had the potential for a wet arrival in Kirkcaldy. I made my way to the Tay road bridge and, as usual in Scotland cyclists are well treated. There is a lift up from street level to the centre section of the bridge which is shared by pedestrian and cyclist.
As I left the lift there were two cyclists who had crossed from the other side waiting to descend but, apart from two joggers I saw no one else and got across without hindrance. I looked across at the Tay rail bridge: not much of a sight compared to its cousin on the Forth but it has stood the test of time since it was completed in 1887, replacing the one that collapsed in high winds in 1879 whilst a train was crossing, killing all 59 people on board and inspiring William McGonagall’s low quality poem ‘The Tay Bridge Disaster’ which ends
"Oh! Ill-fated bridge of the silv'ry Tay,
I now must conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed."
Once across the Firth of Tay I had off road cycleways to Tayport and then forest trails through the Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve during which I saw one Scotland Forest vehicle, two joggers and a cyclist. It started to spit with rain, so I stopped to put on a jacket and decided to put on my waterproof overshoes in case it started raining heavily. In order to do this, I need to sit down and found a suitable log to sit on which was a bit wobbly but sufficed.
Now waterproof, I continued, to find, about 100 yards further on around a bend, several picnic tables which would have been ideal for the change! The trail surface was excellent, and I enjoyed my excursion through stands of maritime pine.
I left the forest at Leuchars which proudly announces itself as the home of the British Army in Fife and there is a mixture of both army and RAF regiments based there. The architecture is the same as any barracks town, drab and uninteresting.
I crossed the Eden estuary at Guardbridge, the remains of a former bridge alongside the modern one
I continued on to St Andrews. The whole journey so far had been pan flat and easy cycling and there were cycle tracks alongside the road to make it even easier. There are seven golf courses on the links and I was cycling alongside three of them on my way to the town centre, keeping an eye open for golf balls that had gone astray but alas did not find any.
The iconic Old Course, home to many championships and considered one of the best in the world was closed to golfers but open to the public who were walking everywhere. I took a picture of the Swilcan bridge
and moved on to the centre of town which was a sea of red as students of St Andrew’s University crossed the road to take part in the Pier walk, a tradition that happens each Sunday of the semester when they walk to the end of the pier, climb a ladder and then return at a higher level.
It was particularly busy today as the first Sunday of the Michaelmas semester and there were many hundreds, if not thousands of students taking part, most wearing their red gowns
My route now took me south east to Crail.
I was battling into a strong head-wind and the motor was being used more than normal but as I turned west along the south coast of the Kingdom of Fife the wind was on my beam, helping me along. Through Anstruther, Pittenweem and Elie and on through Lower Largo and Leven, crossing the river of the same name. I was keen to get to Kirkcaldy before the forecast rain so didn’t stop to take pictures and fortunately made it to the Victoria Hotel by 3.30pm without getting wet.
It’s been an enjoyable day with things to see. The weather has been overcast and the head wind has been trying but I’m making good progress.
