Life In Fife

After a bank holiday weekend that saw almost every caravan here at Craigtoun Meadows full and the park echoing to the sounds of children at play, we’re alone again now. I don’t want to sound like an anti-social old man but I prefer it this way – peaceful. Another advantage is that there is some vestige of an internet signal although even now I have to write this in a word document and upload it when we go to Sarah’s.

It’s been a nice couple of days with the family. I’ve said it a hundred times but buying the caravan was such a good move and has meant that although we have not seen our daughter and family as much as if we lived around the corner we are at least managing to see them for a good couple of months each year; life is so complex in the twenty first century with families spread hundreds (and thousands) of miles apart resulting in so many grandparents missing out on their grandchildren’s childhood so we’ve been lucky.

Little Melody is now almost eight months old. She isn’t crawling yet but she’s extremely interested in everything that’s going on.

Her big sister Rose is so grown up. She’s almost three and we’ve had a great time with her. On Monday she helped us to cut the rhubarb in Duncan’s vegetable plot and yesterday I looked after her while Marion and Sarah did some shopping in Dundee. She was very good while I read to her but she also enjoys exploring and when she decided to run around and explore the shopping centre it was quite hard to keep up with her and, loaded down with a colourful rucksack full of baby paraphernalia I became a bit of a cartoon granddad chasing her around the displays to make sure I didn’t lose sight of her. Oh well, I needed a bit of exercise.

The Tour De Fife

I am indebted to my neighbour Wilfrid for coining the heading to today's blog. He came up with the title when I told him of the marathon bike ride that I completed on Saturday. Marion was still in Kent so, with no fields available to detect and Sarah and Duncan with no babysitting needs, I was at a bit of a loose end. The weather was glorious so I headed out from the caravan at about 9.30 and followed my nose.

After struggling up the hills of Denhead and Strathkiness I headed to the beautiful Tentsmuir Forest where the cycling is flat and easy and before I knew it I was in Tayport. This is the farthest that Marion and I had ventured on our bikes so far so anywhere West of here was unchartered territory for me as far as cycling was concerned.

Ten minutes past Tayport I came in sight of the Tay Bridge. I was pretty tired by this point but the bridge spurred me on as a goal and I carried on pedalling. As I approached the bridge the cycle track (National Route 1) offered two options - to cross the bridge or carry on to Newport On Tay.

As I hadn't been to Newport before I took the second option and rode into and around this small riverside town stopping off for a quick coffee and cake to give me a bit of energy before turning back towards the bridge.

Which I obviously had to cross simply because it was there and also because there is a super safe elevated cycle lane in the middle.

I turned round when I got to the end of the bridge, pausing only to take this photo to prove that I had done it. After that it was the same route back to St Andrews (missing out the diversion to Tentsmuir). I got back at about three thirty after about five solid hours of cycling. I don't want to exaggerate how long the ride was but it certainly exceeded forty miles and was probably not far short of fifty. I enjoyed it and am certainly managing to climb some of the hills with less effort now so it must have had some benefit.

Marion arrived on Sunday evening and we've enjoyed being back together again after our long spell apart. We're helping Sarah with a bit of babysitting this week and then it's back to Framlingham for a day on Sunday before helping out with some more babysitting duties next week in Kent. 

It's quite hectic this retirement lark but we wouldn't change it for anything.

I Feel Very Lucky

After yet another glorious day in St Andrews I can't help but feel that I am a very lucky man. Not only will we soon be living the fabulous Suffolk town of Framlingham but, whenever we feel like a break, we can head back up here to Fife and enjoy another beautiful little place. Today we simply went into the town centre for a coffee in the bustling coffee shop called The North Point and known to us by some strange but logical lateral thinking as where Harry met Sally (there's a sign in the window proclaiming it's where William met Kate). 

After that we had a look around the shops and bought this beautiful t light holder by Joia Glass for the Framlingham bathroom from Artery Gallery.

From then it was a stroll around the edge of the town which was looking its photogenic best today. It's a pity that I only had the phone with me as the light was just perfect for photos. What a super place it is.

We Should Sleep Well Tonight

To be honest we're both absolutely knackered. We decided to take advantage of the continuing glorious weather here in Scotland and headed to Kinross to do a spot of walking around Loch Leven. We'd heard that there was a beautiful Heritage Trail around the loch with well laid level paths making walking a doddle. 

The car park was reached through a small housing estate and some industrial units which belied the splendour and beauty of what was to come. After a quick coffee we set off down the trail.

It's a beautifully created and well marked trail with lovely features such as this rail at a viewpoint engraved with information about the history and wildlife of the area (this is just a small segment).

There are a dozen or more benches finely carved with slogans in Rabbie Burns style dialect - we enjoyed having a stab at their translation and think that we managed to understand most and learnt a few words to add to our sparse local vocabulary.

But it wasn't just a few benches and well laid paths with clear signposts that made our walk a success - the glorious scenery was quite stunning. We learnt that Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in (and escaped from) this island castle.

We saw some of the scores of geese that arrive at the loch to winter before we headed for a well earned snack at the cafe run by the RSPB.

The cafe and information centre is a paradise for bird lovers and there were plenty of twitchers about with their high powered telescopes and long lens cameras.

So why are we knackered after such a lovely gentle walk? Well, every inch of the lake's shoreline that you can see in these photos was part of the path and it came to just over eight miles - in each direction! So, for a couple of retirees who haven't had much exercise for three months a seventeen mile walk was quite an exertion. But we wouldn't have missed it for anything; glorious weather, beautiful countryside and great company. Who could have asked for more?

Relaxing On The Costa Del Fife

After the hard work of the Boden party at the beginning of the week we had the chance to do a bit of relaxing yesterday and today. I had a couple of hours out with the metal detector and we've both managed to read a fair deal on the Kindles. Although I only found one very nice buckle with the detector, the lack of finds was more than compensated for by the glorious scenery and incredible weather which turned the Fife landscape into a scene of shimmering light reminiscent of holidays in Tuscany. I still found myself taking calls from estate agents, solicitors and the architect whilst in the middle of a field but at least these were positive calls - we completed the purchase of our new property in Suffolk.    

St Andrews really is spectacular in the sunshine. It's a lovely place at any time but when the sun shines it's pretty well unbeatable. 

The caravan site has been quiet all week so we've been able to sit on the decking reading in peace. I also found time for a bike ride of about fifteen miles this afternoon and I'm looking forward to cycling a lot more next time we are here. We've sent the architect a full breakdown of our plans for the property in Suffolk and we've found a gardener to keep on top of the garden in Framlingham before we move - now we just need to complete the sale of our house in Southport, appoint a builder and get cracking with the work. 


Exciting times.


It's a pity that I've been called up for jury service next week. That's something we could have done without.

Back In Fife

We didn't sleep well last night after going out for a big meal at The Warehouse in Southport. So, instead of waiting we got up at 4.50, dressed, loaded the car and were on our way to St Andrews long before the alarm was set to go off. As we reached Scotland we were met with rainbow after rainbow - a colourful welcome back to Alba. It's great to be back and, as most of the caravan owners work in the week and only visit the site at the weekend, once again, we've got the place almost to ourselves.

And here are two very good reasons for buying the caravan. We still can't get over how wonderful it is to be able to see daughter Sarah and granddaughter Rose without getting under their feet. We've probably had almost ten weeks here in the last eight months and, without the caravan it would have been maybe two at most. Although it's only six weeks since we last saw them, Rose has made great progress and she's now sitting up comfortably and eating a huge variety of different foods. The method Sarah is using to wean Rose involves her eating exactly the same stuff as her mum and dad - so this evening she tucked into paella (of all things) and enjoyed it immensely.

Just down the road from Sarah and Duncan is this old doocot (dovecote). It's an historic building and has been very sympathetically restored. It once sat in the middle of a farmstead but is now hidden within a modern housing estate.

Nanny Marion is in her element with children and had a great afternoon getting to know Rose again. I'm sure that she recognised us though.

I mentioned my nephew Chris and his wife Becky's new arrival on my last blog and here is the first photo of baby Emmy who weighed in at a healthy 8lbs plus. I'm sure there is a bit of a family resemblance  there. I'm delighted that all went well.


I'll leave you today with this great video that I've been saving for our return to Scotland.


Scotland The World Over from Blipfoto on Vimeo.