The Fife Coastal Path - East Wemyss to Lower Largo
7 hours ago
4 min read
0
1
0
Distance - 7.25 miles (11.5km)
Estimated Time - 3-3.5 hours
Parking - Small car park on main street by the beach
Travel - good bus service connects the whole FCP
Route - Fife Coastal Path 4: East Wemyss to Lower Largo
A short and simple section of the coastal path. With the start and end being the most exciting points with exciting caves, seaside town, ruined castles and sandy beaches. But with a rather uneventful mid section through the built up industrial towns of Methil and Buckhaven.
It was New Years Eve and a beautiful sunny winters day so we decided to make the most of it and go to hike a section of the Fife Coastal Path. Starting off in East Wemyss at the famous caves, we love cave exploring, however we were a bit disappointed to find that they were all locked up and the only way to access them at the moment is by booking a tour here. Something I will need to return to do. There was one cave that you could walk into that wasn't too deep - the Doo Cave where it is still possible to see the carved out doves nests within the walls. A short bit further along you will find some steep stairs up to Macduff's Tower (I won't lie these took my breath away a little - I'll blame the cold winter air 😅). The ruins are deemed as unsafe and there is a gate to stop you ascending the steps any further into the tower, however you can stand in the middle and gaze up at what is left of the 14th century tower. That in itself is pretty spectacular.
Near the tower there is a path taking you to a viewpoint where you get extensive views across the North Sea - we spent some time there hoping to catch sight of the humpback whale that has been spotted around here in the last few weeks - but we fell short of luck. From the castle the path gives you the option to detour down to the shore where you can visit the rest of the Wemyss Caves from here on continue on the high path along the side of the castle. We opted for the high path where we could look down onto the sea and we were even lucky enough to spot a buzzard perched on the trees looking to score some lunch - it was huge!!
On your approach to Buckhaven be careful not to follow the path through the wooden tusks towards the wind turbine (it is a bit misleading here). The path you actually want takes you straight up to a street with houses. We followed what we thought looked like the path and ended up at a dead end, tried to scaled a hill and I basically ended up in someone's back garden with thorns in my leg and had to retrace my steps 😅. Ok so after getting lost we finally made it back to the route and came into the town. Now. the section between Buckhaven and Methil is erm... not so scenic. Or to put it bluntly it's p*sh 😅. You might be lucky enough to catch some local wildlife or a lone abandoned bath tub at the side of the road like we did. After quite a while of industrial views you will eventually cross a bridge over River Leven and arrive in Leven, passing the swimming pool and ending up on the promenade where you regain the feeling of being on a coastal walk again.
The beach here is beautiful and spans for miles, there are also a few coffee houses and cafe's on the other side of the road. On a good day you will be able to see across the water to Berwick Law and Bass rock. The path then passes a number of golf courses before arriving in Lower Largo.
The path takes you past the iconic Crusoe hotel, with an outdoor beer garden looking onto the harbour - this is the perfect place to wet your whistle and get a tasty pub lunch while you're at it.
Fun fact - Lower Largo is the birth place of Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson Crusoe. There is a statue dedicated to him in Main Street.
A little further on you will find "Malagan", a well-known wooden totem pole sculpture. The sculpture was created by local artist Alan Faulds, taking inspiration from Papua New Guinea, the sculpture is designed to be viewed as a round piece of art and incorporates images from the sea and mythology.
This section took us just under 3 hours, so we decided to keep moving on and tackle the next section Lower Largo to St Monans.
Sections of the Fife Coastal Path
1. Kincardine to North Queensferry
2. N Queensferry to Burntisland
3. Burntisland to East Wemyss
4. East Wemyss to Lower Largo
11. Newport to Newburgh
