Fife

Colin Blackburn said:

I'll be up in Fife for the weekend and on the Sunday my other half
and I plan to take a short ride out. We'll be based on the outskirts
of St Andrew's, though I guess we could drive somewhere is we must.
Due to pragmatics I will have the Brompton (fold, unfold, fold...Guy,
remember?) so I'll not be doing a century or anything daft. We are
looking for a leisurely 30 miles or so, quiet roads, nice pub/cafe for
lunch, other stopping possibilities, good views, etc. I'll be
scouring a map later but any suggestions would be most welcome.

Colin

Hi Colin

I was brought up in Crail and I would recommend you head in that direction
(9m from St Andrews). Go down to the harbour - I am sure you will not be
disappointed. There is a little cafe there now - on the left as you go down
the hill - which I would recommend. You can sit out the back with views out
over the Firth of Forth to the Isle of May. Blissful.

On the way there you would pass through Kingsbarns. I think there is still a
pub there that does food. In Crail I think your best bet is to visit the
Golf Hotel for lunch. They have a restaurant through the back which is
non-smoking if that is important to you. The food is plain, no nonsense
stuff. Seafood is hard to find in the East Neuk but there is somtimes a
stall doing dressed crab at the harbour and in Anstruther there is a much
wider range of shops and cafes, including (if it is still there) Bratisani's
ice-cream shop (again at the harbour). If you still feel energetic you could
cycle along to Pittenweem and St. Monans. In each case I recommend you visit
the harbour areas. As you would be turning back on yourself to some extent
the distance back to St. Andrews would not be much greater (returning by
Dunino (A959).

Tom.

Tom Orr said:

I was brought up in Crail and I would recommend you head in that direction
(9m from St Andrews). Go down to the harbour - I am sure you will not be
disappointed.

I was thinking along the lines of "head along the Fife coast", but Tom
has done a more complete job!

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Tom Orr said:

I was brought up in Crail and I would recommend you head in that
direction
(9m from St Andrews). Go down to the harbour - I am sure you will not be
disappointed.

I was thinking along the lines of "head along the Fife coast", but Tom
has done a more complete job!

Yes. Thanks to Tom for the excellent suggestion and to you for
reinforcing it. I have been to Pittenweem and St Monans before, by car,
but not to Crail. I think we'll head to Crail and then see how we feel
about heading west. All I need now is the sunshine.

Colin

On Fri, 27 May 2005 10:56:16 +0100 someone who may be Colin
Blackburn <[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

We are
looking for a leisurely 30 miles or so, quiet roads, nice pub/cafe for
lunch, other stopping possibilities, good views, etc. I'll be scouring a
map later but any suggestions would be most welcome.

It might be worth browsing http://www.fife-cycleways.co.uk/ to see
if there is anything of interest.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me by using the RIP Act 2000.

David Hansen said:

It might be worth browsing http://www.fife-cycleways.co.uk/ to see
if there is anything of interest.

The Fife routes are, IME, fairly well marked and make for good day
trips. But they certainly don't make any sort of serious attempt to
reduce the amount of hill climbing done, and certainly the stuff around
the Bridge isn't the sort of stuff I'd undertake on the Brom rather than
something with a bit more in the way of gears and stem rigidity! So so
check any individual route for contours before setting off...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Colin Blackburn said:

I'll be up in Fife for the weekend and on the Sunday my other half and I
plan to take a short ride out. We'll be based on the outskirts of St
Andrew's, though I guess we could drive somewhere is we must. Due to
pragmatics I will have the Brompton (fold, unfold, fold...Guy,
remember?) so I'll not be doing a century or anything daft. We are
looking for a leisurely 30 miles or so, quiet roads, nice pub/cafe for
lunch, other stopping possibilities, good views, etc. I'll be scouring a
map later but any suggestions would be most welcome.

Aren't you supposed to be running an orienteering relay on Sunday?

Roos

Roos Eisma said:

Colin Blackburn said:

I'll be up in Fife for the weekend and on the Sunday my other half and I
plan to take a short ride out. We'll be based on the outskirts of St
Andrew's, though I guess we could drive somewhere is we must. Due to
pragmatics I will have the Brompton (fold, unfold, fold...Guy,
remember?) so I'll not be doing a century or anything daft. We are
looking for a leisurely 30 miles or so, quiet roads, nice pub/cafe for
lunch, other stopping possibilities, good views, etc. I'll be scouring a
map later but any suggestions would be most welcome.

Aren't you supposed to be running an orienteering relay on Sunday?

I've been entered (by someone else!) but I'm not in a team. As I am
running on Saturday, helping a friend move house on Monday (St Andrew's
to near Dundee, by van) and travelling back via Edinburgh on Tuesday, I
thought it would be nice to spend the day cycling instead---otherwise
Elfie gets left behind twice while I go running.

Elfie may go cycling on Saturday but I'm not sure how amenable Tentsmuir
is, especially with an event on at the same time.

Of course I have now noticed that there are two other Northern
Navigators at the event so I could have been in a meaningful team if I'd
thought ahead.

Colin

Colin Blackburn said:

Elfie may go cycling on Saturday but I'm not sure how amenable Tentsmuir
is, especially with an event on at the same time.

It's pretty flat, so you don't really need to worry too much about
scooping unsuspecting runners as you plunge down banks at death-defying
velocities. It's not exactly exciting as a cycling area, being a
plantation rather than a natural wood with little in the way of
topography, but it's pleasant enough to trundle about. Some of the
tracks have deep dry sand, where you can practically guarantee a general
failure of forward progress, but these are few enough that they're Dumb
Fun rather than intensely annoying.
The bits of Fife Cycleway track running through are on a big dirt track
firebreak. Not very inspiring, but it does get you between Kinshaldy
and Newport reasonably painlessly.

Quoted message said:

Of course I have now noticed that there are two other Northern
Navigators at the event so I could have been in a meaningful team if I'd
thought ahead.

Thinking ahead works so /well/ in hindsight... ;-/

(I'll be up in the southern 'Gorms bagging a pal's Final Munro, so won't
be about, btw).

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Colin Blackburn said:

Roos Eisma said:

Aren't you supposed to be running an orienteering relay on Sunday?

Quoted message said:

I've been entered (by someone else!) but I'm not in a team. As I am
running on Saturday, helping a friend move house on Monday (St Andrew's
to near Dundee, by van) and travelling back via Edinburgh on Tuesday, I
thought it would be nice to spend the day cycling instead---otherwise
Elfie gets left behind twice while I go running.

On the website for the event you seem to be listed as part of an ad-hoc
team:

http://www.interlopers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/scadhocteams.txt

Quoted message said:

Elfie may go cycling on Saturday but I'm not sure how amenable Tentsmuir
is, especially with an event on at the same time.

I'd probably prefer the roads over the forest off-road. There are enough
small roads to be able to avoid the larger roads most of the time.

Roos

Roos Eisma said:

Colin Blackburn said:

I've been entered (by someone else!) but I'm not in a team. As I am
running on Saturday, helping a friend move house on Monday (St Andrew's
to near Dundee, by van) and travelling back via Edinburgh on Tuesday, I
thought it would be nice to spend the day cycling instead---otherwise
Elfie gets left behind twice while I go running.

On the website for the event you seem to be listed as part of an ad-hoc
team:

http://www.interlopers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/scadhocteams.txt

Ah, b*ll*cks, as they say. I had assumed teams would be made up of those
who actually turned up on the day. Thanks for alerting me to this, I'll
have to withdraw. I'm sure Ifor Powell (winner of numerous mountain
marathons, will be disappointed by my no-show!)

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Elfie may go cycling on Saturday but I'm not sure how amenable Tentsmuir
is, especially with an event on at the same time.

I'd probably prefer the roads over the forest off-road. There are enough
small roads to be able to avoid the larger roads most of the time.

Thanks.

Colin

Colin Blackburn said:

Peter Clinch said:

Tom Orr said:

I was brought up in Crail and I would recommend you head in
that direction
(9m from St Andrews). Go down to the harbour - I am sure you
will not be disappointed.

I was thinking along the lines of "head along the Fife
coast", but Tom has done a more complete job!

Yes. Thanks to Tom for the excellent suggestion and to you for
reinforcing it. I have been to Pittenweem and St Monans
before, by car, but not to Crail. I think we'll head to Crail
and then see how we feel about heading west. All I need now is
the sunshine.
Colin

Sunday is supposed to be the better day weather wise.

Enjoy your trip.
--
Mark

1x1 wheel, 3x2 wheels & 1x3 wheels.

the.Mark said:

Sunday is supposed to be the better day weather wise.

Enjoy your trip.

The weather on Sunday was good---bar the odd downpour!---but our cycling
wasn't. We pootled in to St Andrews and then headed out towards Crail.
Unfortunately Elfie is still recovering from a bad cold so we didn't get
too far before deciding to head back to St Andrews. Still, it was a nice
ride if short.

On the upside, having the bikes there meant that the friend we were
staying with and I could go into St Andrews for a pint on Monday night.
Luckily Chris isn't very tall so Elfie's bike was fine. The further
upside of this is that Chris, who doesn't have a bike and hasn't cycled
for years, was amazed how easy the push button gear changing was and is
now looking to get a bike.

On the downside my orienteering was terrible and I managed an
ignominious last place! Only just though. Although it was my running was
bad I will blame the quality of the mapping for being last rather than
second last!

Colin

Colin Blackburn said:

On the downside my orienteering was terrible and I managed an
ignominious last place! Only just though. Although it was my running was
bad I will blame the quality of the mapping for being last rather than
second last!

Could be worse... I didn't complete the last big one I tried in the
Trossachs and was actually rather down for a couple of days because I
didn't realise just /how/ incompetent I could be with a map!

Still, wounds heal and last night's local run was not only enjoyable but
I did a reasonable job of it too, though I still have a bit of a mental
block at times over the map having clear == woods and yellow == open
ground...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Colin Blackburn said:

On the downside my orienteering was terrible and I managed an
ignominious last place! Only just though. Although it was my running
was bad I will blame the quality of the mapping for being last rather
than second last!

Could be worse... I didn't complete the last big one I tried in the
Trossachs and was actually rather down for a couple of days because I
didn't realise just /how/ incompetent I could be with a map!

:-)

It's my running speed and endurance that is the problem at the moment.
This doesn't bode well for the two mountain marathons I have in the next
month.

Quoted message said:

Still, wounds heal and last night's local run was not only enjoyable but
I did a reasonable job of it too, though I still have a bit of a mental
block at times over the map having clear == woods and yellow == open
ground...

Oh, I'm fine on that and that's why I now like Harveys Maps for walking.
Unfortunately at SOC the mapper didn't update an area marked as hatched
yellow (scattered trees) to light green (forest walk). I don't think he
checked that that bit of plantation had grown in the 20 years since the
area was first mapped! Nor did he notice it had been fenced and had a
ride cut through it. Still, I was 3rd over all on one leg at least.

Colin