Day 19 Scotland begins

1/9/2012

Day 19 Scotland begins

The sun was up early and Lynn and I rose to get ourselves ready for the day. Lynn obviously needed a bit more time than I, so I had an extra fifteen minutes to lie in. We had bought some supplies for our breakfast as Sandra had a wedding to prepare for. (Not her own) I had put the tent out of the bag to dry again, but it hadn't needed long in our warm inside accommodation, and I hadn't made any mess for the host to clear up either. I do try to be clean and appreciate the things given even if my friend had paid for it.

The bag seemed heavier, I wondered what Lynn had stowed in mine....!!!

For breakfast we went into the bay area and found a cafe called Coast Cafe. You'll know it if you have ever been there, as there is a small child standing outside facing the wall, as if counting to one hundred as his friends go and hide. His name is Bobby and he is not a real boy. Nor a wooden boy, but you do have to look twice. I went up to him and asked if he was looking for his mummy, before I realised that he wasn't listening. Durgh...!!

We got ready to move off and just before we did, a lady we had spoken briefly to from the village of St. Monans passed by. I said hello to her and she came over and asked me if we could help her out with some money. I asked her what she wanted it for and she replied, 'food messages.' We thought the lady was a bit odd and especially as she wasn't the normal kind of beggar, wondered what the heck she was on about. Food messages?

I didn't actually have any money anyway so couldn't help her, and Lynn also said no. I often help people as you may know, but for a random stranger to come over and ask for a loan of £20 I was unsure as to how this would be the case. She disappeared into the betting shop next door, so that gave me more of a clue.

We loved the new views as we made our way further east towards the corner of this headland. We soon arrived at Crail another village by the sea. As ever, picturesque as the houses rose away from the harbour, we found our way down the hill and made tracks to a little shop/cafe/art gallery with a terrace overlooking the sea and May Island in the mouth of the Forth estuary, towards North Berwick. The tea and cake was a lovely treat but a shameful sin...what? Walking is one sure way to burn off unwanted calories and I don't pay too much attention to that type of counting.

We got chatting to a couple who had just arrived on the terrace who had a dog called Mr Bojangles. I said that it reminded me of the song by Harry Nillson but they said it was more likely Robbie Williams. Paul had just come back from climbing Mont Blanc in France, and had almost been put back by the bad weather, but finally realised his goal, one of 3 teams out of 30 to make the ascent. He was keen to know about my walk, being a strong walker himself and asked for my phone no. so he could contact me to walk with later on. Yvonne his wife was telling us about their business in hospitality back in St. Andrews, that Paul had gotten out of, being away climbing.

We had to move eventually or seize up, I had suggested to Lynn that we should walk along the road rather than the coastal path as it would save us a few miles and her feet some more pain.

She was being brave but I could tell she was suffering a bit with continuing blisters and sore toes.

After a further hour we had arrived to Kingsbarns and a nice little pub that promised us a chance to use the loo and taste the local ale. There were a lot of golf caddies here from the local St Andrews course taking a break from the long day carrying other peoples clubs all over the course. I got chatting with one or two of them about the walk and about the long walks they do daily lugging heavy irons. Most golf courses have buggies these days, which require no caddies, but some people still preferred the old fashioned method and the wisdom of the caddies with regards which club to use and how far to the green etc. The land lady was very chatty too, and we found out a lot about the chance to set the tent up near to the beach below the village.

It was getting dark as we left but the moon would be giving some help. As we came to the beach and the camping area described we were met by a group of youngsters having a night out with their friends. They were merry and very chatty especially the girls. They wanted to know what we were doing and where we were walking to, and very surprised that I was actually walking around Great Britain. One of the girls said that as I was doing my walk for charity she wanted to give me the 30 pence that she had in her pocket, as a help to my efforts. I was touched, here were a group of teenage people giving what they could to assist the children and less able adults that will be helped by the money raised, and it was possibly all the money that she had. The widows mite came to mind. Before long I had almost £11 pounds in donations from the group, and they wanted to take some pictures of Lynn and I for their memories of the meeting. The names I got were Zoe from Lunden Links, Claire and Tiegan from Largo, Georgina form Tayport and Kerry from Anstruther, but there were many more in the group. They continued to ask us both questions, it was like a rapid fire round on a quiz show. Eventually they let us go, and we slipped off along the beach to find a quieter spot, and erect our tent in a less busy environment. They were lovely people but of course making a racket was part and parcel of the fun of being young and full of energy. We made another quarter of a mile and I found a niche where another track met the beach front and it was relatively more protected from the wind. The oncoming rains I spied in the distance as the last of the daylight fell, hurried me to get the tent up.

Full of great joy we settled down for the night and felt humbled by the kindness of these youngsters and their selflessness. I said goodnight to my tent partner and sleep crashed in and took me away as day 19 Scotland came to an end.