11 August 2014
Accommodation – Hazelton Guest House
Weather – dreadful – rain and gusting winds
Temperature – mid teens with high chill factor
Despite the terrible weather caused by the remnants of Hurricane
Bertha we pressed on after breakfast and explored Crail. We walked along the path below the village to
the harbour and explored the paths around the village.
The monument with a unicorn atop in the old market place dates from medieval times when Crail commanded an important trading position with northern Europe.
Crail Harbour - tide's out!
Our 'local'!
On the way to the local kirk (church) we laughed as the wind
was so strong it wouldn’t allow us to move forward. We spent some time at the local church and
searched the headstones for ancestors’ names but we couldn’t find any at this
stage. Although the weather is quite bad
Crail still manages to charm the visitor with its little streets, harbour and
many little specialty shops.
The old Crail church .... very lovely with its summer growth.
To get away from the gusting winds and chilly day we
retreated to a lovely little coffee shop and art gallery near the harbour (the one we noticed yesterday) which
overlooked the ocean to the Isle of May.
We definitely deferred to comfort food today with Scotch pancakes, maple
syrup and bacon!
After lunch we set off exploring the beautiful coastline of
East Nuek. Kilrenny, a tiny village, was
only a short distance away from Crail and we wandered around the very old
churchyard. I felt compelled to visit as
my 5 times great grandmother was born there in 1728.
The Kilrenny church in a very tiny village. It's surrounded by very old headstones.
Many little fishing villages dot the coastline with their
manmade harbours. Anstruther was blowing
a gale and along with many others we enjoyed viewing the Fisheries Museum for a
couple of hours.
Anstruther.....in full flight!
We drove through Pittenweem to St Monans where my four times
great grandfather was born. There is a
wonderful looking church sitting on the headland overlooking the village and
ocean. It was one of the few churches
open however the entire interior has been painted white, tiled in modern
terracotta on the floor and no artwork or memorials exist. It was quite a disappointment. The church is obviously very old and the
headstones are testimony to this, but unfortunately only the exterior seems to
have retained its position in architectural history.
Position, position, position! The old St Monans Church has commanding views.
The weather maintained its rage all day and we eventually
called it a day and headed back to our lovely accommodation. It’s only 50 metres to the pub and we’d
booked as The Golf Hotel Inn was very busy the evening before.
We accomplished a lot today – the area is very beautiful – I
just wish we could have seen it in sunshine!
Maybe tomorrow?
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