Fife Walk

Today's walk was not particularly long but was mainly uphill, and, it felt, even on the return. It was taken from Dan Bailey's book entitled 40 Coast and Country Walks in the Kingdom of Fife.

We parked in the village of Aberdour and walked up Murrel Road, continuing on a path to a derelict cottage (extra photo, top left). A little beyond we cut off right, through gorse, to reach the ridge and a ruin of farm buildings, seemingly used for sorting sheep. The pig scale here (extra, bottom left) presumably works equally well for sheep.

We found a place to sit for our picnic and admire the views south across the Forth to the Pentlands and to the north (extra, top right). Main photo of the trees looking east towards Torry Hill from here and is the map location.

Our route then took us south, along the east side of Humbie Woods, resplendent in autumn colour, cutting back west above Dalachy Farm to descend on a tree and Blackthorn lined path, along which we spotted the Jews Ear fungus (Auricularia auricula) on its Elder host (extra, bottom right) and a fine old Sweet chestnut, towards the Humbie Road. From here it was a short walk on the footway back to the village, via the Purple Shop for very welcome ice creams.

The weather was pleasantly cool  but I have to say that some of the paths were overgrown, muddy and wet, which did not spoil our own enjoyment but would not be recommended without suitable clothing and footwear.