Coast and Castles - July 2025 - Fife

Technically I suppose Mrs L and I are now beyond the Coast and Castles route, which starts in Newcastle and ends in Edinburgh. At this point, and in fact since Berwick, we have been travelling along CR76. The Forth Road Bridge is a cheeky but iconic short cut; the route in fact goes all the way across to Stirling and then back down the other side to Rosyth. I had been  greatly looking forward to this moment. Partly for the views, partly to say I'd done it (all my children have done it), and partly because I was sure I was going to be able to see loads of birds from up there. 

As a result it took me ages to cross and Mrs L left me behind. And other than a handful of Common Tern on some rocks near the North Queensferry side I saw no birds at all. We were in Fife! Now my Fife list is 208, and I was 100% sure that it would remain on 208 despite taking a slow route to the original Chateau L. So this was more about seeing if anything could be added to the trip list from a numbers perspective. We passed through Inverkeithing and bought some lunch, and then headed east for the first time down to the shore. I've never seen the bridges from this perspective. Along this track there was another Bullfinch, as as we went around the edge of Dalgety Bay some unseen Crossbills passed overhead - these were new for the trip and they are on the move at this time of year.

Dalgety Bay

We had lunch overlooking Pettycur Bay, high up on the bluff between the train tracks and the road. Not especially glamourous but the view is nice. I scanned the Terns and Waders on the sand before the tide came in but other than a couple of Barwits could not sift out anything particularly special. 

At Kinghorn our route turned inland for a while to cut out a corner. Kinghorn Loch was only a very short distance off the CR76 so we paused there for a cup of tea. The home stretch. I had been hoping for a Gadwall, or perhaps some Shoveler but it was not to be. A suspicious Pink-footed Goose was with some Greylag, but at least it didn't come in to the family chucking bread about. 

Back in the saddle we moved slowly north-east, the hill out of Kinghorn requiring getting off an pushing. There was then a lovely mild gradient downhill section to Kirkcaldly on Standing Stanes Road, and we hadn't gone far before a Wheatear flipped off the road and into the field. Our glide into Kirkcaldy complete, we pedalling slowly along the esplanade. The seafront at Kirkcaldy does not show Fife at it's best. The planners were asleep at the wheel and the 1960s and 70s seem to have been particularly unkind. I had a last scan of the sea and then it was up into Thornton.

So close. Birding was put to one side, I just wanted to get off the bike. The last few miles were thus pretty rapid and we arrived at the ancenstral pad at around half four. A case of pinot noir had arrived earlier that day (sent by me in a moment of desperation en route) and so we cracked a bottle open shortly afterwards. Done!

The visit was brief - we spent the whole week getting there and had to go home more or less immediately!