WHEN Which? readers were asked to name their favourite Scottish walk it was a surprise to many it isn’t in the rugged Highlands, or the wild isles, but right in the Lowlands of Scotland in Fife. I for one wasn’t surprised as in the last year I’ve twice walked the brilliant route from Anstruther to Crail that Which? readers have just rated so highly. Get your boots on now as I take you for a hike in this gorgeous corner of the East Neuk.
Which? asked 1807 members to rate more than 50 of the UK’s favourite walks that don’t take more than a day to complete (13 miles and under) and Anstruther east across to Crail came out top in Scotland. The voting categories included scenery, best food and drink, best for wildlife spotting and where is best to escape the crowds.
This just-over-four-miles-long route is handily part of the 116-mile Fife Coastal Path, which sweeps all the way from Kincardine right along Fife’s southern flank and around Fife Ness to push north by St Andrews to a finish on the banks of the Tay, at Newburgh. So you can easily extend the Which? walk, and I suggest you consider it. Elie to Anstruther for example is another stunner too, covering another six miles.
Which? readers partly judged Anstruther-Crail on the food scene and it was one of the East Neuk’s brace of award-winning chefs who enthused me about walking here. Geoffrey Smeddle runs the
Michelin-starred Peat Inn and he told me the landscape is a key part of the East Neuk’s attraction: “While the misty peaks of a Highland wilderness make magnificent Instagram shots, here in Fife we’re blessed with a landscape that rises softly across rich farmlands, where cattle fields reach right down to the very shoreline and the famous ‘golden fringe’ boasts an enviable abundance at every turn.”
This part of the world does feel abundant in many ways. And spirit-soaring too. Setting off from Anstruther (fish and chips at the town’s famous chippies are optional) along the waterfront, we soon leave the crowds behind, as we seamlessly move into postcard-pretty Cellardyke.
On my first walk with my teenage daughter she said the East Neuk villages “all look the same”. I know what she means, but when you see them, I think you’ll agree that’s a great thing. Cellardyke follows the beguiling East Neuk fishing village template with its cute wee harbour, sandy beaches, cobbled streets and whitewashed and pastel-hued houses topped with orange tiles and Flemish gables.
On my second walk, I was with Douglas Clement, a local with such a serious passion for the East Neuk he built his own distillery here at Kingsbarns. After working as a golf caddie, he became frustrated with all his clients asking him why Fife didn’t have a distillery. He lives with his gorgeous ebony Labrador Barclay in Cellardyke.
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The three of us eased along under big skies, with the Forth widening to welcome the shimmering Isle of May and unmistakable Bass Rock across the dolphin and whale peppered waters. “In the East Neuk it’s not about what we add today. It’s the ever-changing light, the sense of peace; a feeling it’s always been like this,” smiled Douglas.
Compared to Anstruther, Cellardyke’s harbour is seriously sleepy, as is the welcoming Norse-named Haven pub. Amidst the locals there is a sprinkling of holiday lets and artist studios too, but it’s still an unassuming wee place. Hard to believe then that this harbour, founded in 1452 and once known as “Skinfast Haven”, was once one of the most crucial ports in the land. History and ghosts swirl all along this bijou walk.
Soon we shook off the village and were out in the countryside, with open pasture to the left and the rugged rock-strewn coast to the right. The highlight was Caiplie Caves. Douglas, Barclay and I clambered around these vaulting weathered sandstone rocks, which were once the site of early Christian worship. Known locally as “The Coves”, the rocks on closer inspection are arches, some of which have crumbled over the years.
Then it was on past an old salt works. Here Douglas shared his dream or building a rum distillery on the site. That would sound like an impossible pipe dream coming from most people, but given his history of conjuring up the East Neuk’s Kingsbarns Distillery from scratch, I wouldn’t put it past him.
The approach to the 17th-century fishing village of Crail is spectacular; the village spectacular too. We snatched glimpses of it as it popped out amid the cliffs. Crail enjoys a fittingly grand setting where the Forth meets the North Sea – grand as Crail was once home to the largest medieval market in Europe, and it’s said its harbour used to be so busy you could walk right across it on the boats.
Today, Marketgate is more reclining in retirement than bustling, but there are gentle signs of life down at the postcard pretty harbour where our walk ends. In some style. We tuck into a hulking locally-landed lobster. Peering out over the boat-dappled harbour, it’s easy to see why so many artists and dreamers have chosen to live here. And easy to see too that the readers of Which? made a great choice.
Fife Coastal Path – https://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/walks/fife-coastal-path/
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