STanding in a village of Scottish Seaside, I faced two wise red doors and a curious figure standing in a niche above them: a man, a hand clinging to one staff, the other eyes as he looked at the sea. There was a Flintlock pistol on his belt and he was dressed in rubbish rags. Is this a honor of the locals who survived one night in Kirkcaldy? No, there is a weapon plaque that I just read: “In the memory of Alexander Selkirk, Mariner, the original Robinson Crusoe …”
This was the site of a hut where Selkirk was born in 1676. And suddenly a long forgotten melody was starting to play in my head, a sweeping of the lyrics that I had never heard of the half -century. Surprisingly to discover what the treasure has forgotten between my ears, this is the theme from the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a German television series released in the UK at the time of the Apollo 11 Moon Landings (and repeatedly until 1982). From the moment I saw it, I gave up plans to become an astronaut and decided to travel the world instead.
And now here I am back where it all started for Selkirk/Crusoe in Lower Largo in Fife. What does he look at throughout the Firth of Forth? This is probably the Isle of Mayo, now a national nature reserves, or bass rock lighthouse where I went at the age of five on my first -sea journey, little suspected my hero stared at the waves towards me.
I’m about to start on a four-day section of the Fife Coastal Path, an 116 mile route that connects the Forth and Tay’s fiths and captures some of Scotland’s best seaside villages. It is also a part of the Beach of Dreams, a UK-wide coastal arts festival taking place from May-1 June.
Leaving Mr. Selkirk, I walk around a wide bay where water flow, carries a large number of walking birds to feed the exposed sand patches. One of the joys of this walk, I was about to discover, was how the sea life was subtly changed and changing each day. Here I have great piles of razor clam shells and limpet, tomorrow will be yellow periwinkles, cockles and mussels.
The wooden point and a great kale were witnessed by a cliff, I went to one of the highlights: the Elie’s chain walking to Kinkraig Point. Nothing seemed to be sure of how it was unusual, and courageously, the shore feature began, but now there is eight shiny steel chains to help any person glistening, across and up to the crunchy cliffs of the coast. This should only be done around the low flow and, warning, a chain is rather short and attached to a wobbly bolt. The reward is to access a secret world of crashing waves, sea arches and mysterious caves.
The village of Elie is more than a lie, a begging mix of ancient stone houses and fun: there are foil surfers in the water and a beachside sauna with a curly wood of wood that appears from the chimney. I book myself. There is also a great pub, the Ship Inn, famous for the halting of cricket matches on sands.
In the sauna, I met Judith Dunlop who kicked in the hot box (portable sauna) with the beach idea around here, sitting on a converted horse trailer to her town of Elie. Now he has two additional locations on the coast and competitors as well. It is possible, I calculate, walk for days and finish, or start, with a sinking in the sea and a sauna.
The next day, I forced the villages of St Monans and Pittenweem fishing (Good Cafe Stops Available in Bowhouse and CocoA Tree) to meet artist Julie Brook on Anstruther. Julie wanted to take me to see the location of an artwork called Tide Line that she was about to start building. In conjunction with many other assigned artwork around the UK, it will be a feature of the Beach of Dreams Festival.
Anstuther itself is a nest of activity and well worth exploring. By recently -only repaired Dreel Halls, a historic church and town town, there are two shell houses, buildings provided by millions of sea shells.
Anstuther connects to another fishing village, Cellardyke, where there is a delicate tidal swimming pool (and a sauna), and about a mile with Julie’s points throughout the rocky inter-tidal zone, now exposed by the retreating sea. “We will build it there, a path that leads to a place that is usually slippery and dangerous for most people.”
The work will be careful, ending every day by the arrival of the sea. We walk and Julie immediately asses some stones for their possibilities. “It’s amazing what can be done with levers and human strength – I think I can build a passage throughout that pool and skirt outcrop.”
His enthusiasm and vision were contagious. I want to start right away. “Will you take the path to the ground there?” I ask, ever practical. A path should lead to where.
But Julie shook her head. “No. It’s going to end at sea.” That’s the actress. A path can go anywhere, and still meaning. I can imagine a young Alexander Selkirk who was standing on the last stone, stirring his bare fingers in the waves and dreaming of escaping.
Eventually, I said goodbye to Julie and headed to the coast, reaching a beautiful Crail harbor and a hot bowl of soup in the harbor and tearoom gallery. After an unobtrusive YOMP through a holiday park, I never returned to wild rugged rocks and the grieving movement of curlews. There are some great tidal pool dips that should be, but now I have been adapted, I will not deal with it. Around the point of Fife Ness, the scenery on the coast changes again clean. Drifts of sea shells are covered with kelp, testament to the power of north-Easterly Gales.
At Kingsbarns I enjoy dinner at Inn, a short walk from Cambo Sands Beach – where there is another lovely sauna. Inn is a successful example of a community-regionant, well and friendly with good food and room.
My last walk brings me to St Andrews for a last sauna on East Sands with a social majority of the locals. A British sauna culture seems to be emerging: chatting than Germans, warmer than Scandinavians, and definitely not naked. I wonder what Selkirk will do. In 1709, when he was finally rescued from his island in the Pacific after four years, his Savior Captain Woodes Rogers, mentioned: “How many a simple and temperate way of life of the body’s health and the strength of thinking … one can see the unity and retirement from the world is not like a unhappy state of life. Selkirk was his sad island, but found a place that reminded him: at the Kincraig point where the Elie Chain exists.
More information on Visit Scotland. The saws of residence offer along the Crusoe walk route to Lower Largo (from £ 123), The ship inn to Elie (from £ 100) and maybell cottage to the pitteneem (from £ 175). Inn in Kingsbarns has doubled from £175. Beach of Dreams Festival begins 1 May
