glenrothes

cow bridge to kennoway

Now, we have obviously had a few difficulties with waymarking and the Pilgrim Way. It is odd at times and sometimes eccentric. At other times it is totally naff. We know that when we started (February 2019), the FPW was not open: I think the anticipation was that it would open in the early summer. Hahahahahah. It will be nice when it’s finished. Waymarking seems to be either feast or famine. Our experience has been that certain stretches are excellently and extensively marked but then other stretches are poorly marked or non-existent so suddenly posts and markers festooned with the FPW logo every 200 meters suddenly stop and hide themselves. Which we believe is why we got lost shortly after starting. Because the waymarking disappeared (at least for us). The available maps on line were a brilliant advert for the maps Fife have produced because the online stuff is pretty damn useless. The OS maps have not caught up with the FPW which is not surprising given that the FPW is still a work in progress. Oh well. It doesn’t help that there is more routes than you can shake a stick at when you’re walking from Cow Bridge. There are shed loads of route markings, colour coded festooning posts and poles but as far as we were concerned, the Pilgrim’s Way marking was posted missing. We hit the first one, then lost it. Whrn we hit the road, there were markers to the nth degree. But nothing that bore any resemblance to the FPW markers. Eventually we took a guess and found th, hospital which was less than inspiring on a dreich day with as they say, many miles to go before we rest. So we took that as a reference point. but we picked up the trail and crossed a road near a school, walking over an underpass that we worked out we should have been walking under. We had been looking for the markers, but oh no, nothing visible. We know now that the actual route slides off to the right. And I purposely crossed the road to look: trhese damn things need to be visible. But using the OS map and identifying positon by the school over there and the road there, we rejoined the FPW route, checking positioning by the footpath, now waymarked, which brushed by the road past the fire station. Pitcoudie Avenue to the park and follow the waymarking. Yay.

The park has football pitches, one with the biggest centre circle that we had ever seen. Neil suspected that the instructions had read feet as yards. But at least we knew where we were. The path through the parkland and pitches is quite clear and is Waymarked as it skites off to the left through the old Balfarg village to allow a good crossing of the A92. Here the FPW does a shimmie, turning north at a wall before doing a u-turn and combing back down on the other side of that wall. The path leads past the Balbirnie Stone Circle, a well-preserved pre-historic circle, part of a wider prehistoric complex.

The description panels were informative: they describe a prehistoric landscape, peopled by folk who lived, prayed and died. The area is now partly housing estate, but despite this their remains a sense of history beyond the normal; its’ atmospheric antiquity begs further acquaintance. a special place. Little wonder then that the town ahead, Markinch, claims to have been the capital of Scotland. Or Fife. Something like that.

The parthway follows a fast-running burn through a wooded (and rhododendron-ed) area which lead eventually past the Balbirnie Golf Club where soggy golfers were leaving following a commiseratory lunch after a wettish morning. The pathway leads through the golfers car park and out into more woodland with a path that skates round Balbirnie House (behind the trees) before heading off to the east toward the metropois of Markinch. The path comes out at the East Lodge by the Stob Cross (or one of the Stob Crosses). We sat and fed the birds on the hill overlooking, well, another hill. The drizzle had diminished although the weather was hardly delightful. But the walking was pleasant, and we talked about this and that. Neil has been focussed on completing the Munro’s - he has 9 to finish, seven of which are in the Black Cuillin. The walk into Markinch led us past the Stob Cross, more signs of antiquity.

Leaving Markinch was a hassle, not least because we lost the route. So we saw more of Markinch than we should have done although it is definitely a pleasant place. I mean you have to applaud tradition…..

There are two narratives now, which begin with us losing the FPW route and walking the wrong way, passing through the town square, and heading south to pass by the railway station to follow the road out east past the cemetery and the ruins of Balgonie Castle.

This is not the route; the route is further north.

Effectively there are three parallel routes - north, middle and south.

We were following the south route, but slung a left to hit the middle when we realised something was wrong. The north route is not shown on the OS map. I am fairly sure that the FPW route map will be clearer although if the FPW signage is anything to go by, enjoy the trip to Kincardine Bridge.

It was, as usual, good chatting with Neil, and interesting (seriously, it was) about working as a contractor on sites in Scotland and England. There’s a thing about work and about how work works. I used to think, as a young man heading for a career, that sometimes things would go wrong but generally systems work and pathways are real. Like the FPW waymarking, that’s bollocks. The reality is that things working by design are rare (it’s the people) and things work more by luck than judgement. People believe they are driving with purpose; usually they are driving with a blindfold and a ouiji board. But the chat was good, and was interspersed by a realisation that the OS map and the data from FPW was insufficiently accurate not least because the northern route is not shown on the OS map. Big message from Fife Countryside Trust thingy: buy the map/book. Go on line: the only one I found on sale in Fife was in Crail on another foray.

Part of this rant has to do with pride. It shouldn’t be that two experienced walkers, which we are, should not be able to navigate on what is essentially a country walk. This was ridiculous, so I went back and tried to find out where we went wrong. The walk in from Balbirnie Golf Club is clear, and brings you out at Stob Cross, north of the church. It is possible to get excited by the whizzy FPW display board which is quite fetching. Not much help for navigation, but neat nonetheless.

Prior to the re-run of the route, I had posted a comment on the FPW facebook page

“Waymarking on the route so far is often odd, and occasionally non-existent. It has caused several problems for these two walkers. It appears that launching the route was ambitious, lacking rigour. Lacks the integrity of the Fife Coastal and John Muir.”

The re-run (solo) confirmed my suspicions. I posted again:

“We walked past the waymarking patch coming into Markinch. The OS 1:25000 does not show the path that FPW use. Remember that.

Ok.

1.      The pictures of the kirk below are taken maybe 15 paces apart, looking north. Theres a cul de sac between. You will see a waymarking point on the post on the picture. The third picture is a detail of the second. the eagle eyed will observe that the way marking is on the south side of the pole i.e. on the wrong side of the pole. The waymarking indicates turn right to people approaching from the south. Which would be unusual. It would also meant that they will be walking back on themselves.

Turns out that we missed the turning because the badge is on the wrong (south)side of the post. Doh.

I got a response from the FPW facebook operation….

“Hello Russ,
Thank you for your feedback, I'm sorry to hear that you have got lost on your travels along the FPW. The term "abysmal" is perhaps a little severe, however, it is true that the waymarking through the towns is not as clear as it could be in places and we recognise that sometimes this is further compounded by the hilarious practice of turning the discs around. To this end we are working with Transportation Services on changing the on street signage to be more like that of the Fife Coastal Path i.e. stickers on the lampposts and metal blades where there is a significant change in direction.

The specific waymarking you reference in the pictures is correct. You will see from the attached map that users coming from Balbirnie Park do approach this turning from the south as they turn off Balbirnie Street, briefly crossing Glass Street then immediately turning right on to Brunton Road. A tricky little left and right that is shown on our display board and we hope will be made more obvious with the new on street signage.

With any long distance route or long journey we would strongly recommend that a map is used in conjunction with the waymarking and signage. We have a specific walking map available to buy from our website, through bookshops and a number of other outlets along the route https://fifecoastandcountrysidetrust.co.uk/.../fife.../ . Since the FPW is new to the scene it is not yet published on the OS maps although it will feature in the next editions. There are also basic maps available to download for free from our website.

If you like to use smart devices then the route is available on ViewRanger through the App Store and Google Play. The route is broken down into 7 different sections that are all free to download:

https://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MjQ1OTY2NA==?ref=

This is a great way to navigate the route giving real time location information, additional information about each section and the opportunity to share your experiences through the App. We will continue to develop the offering here to include relevant points of interest along the way.

I hope that this is helpful and that you very much enjoy the rest of your journey along the Fife Pilgrim Way.”

Which is a balanced response, and confirms that there are a few difficulties. ……

Clearly we missed the route by the kirk, and as a result approached from the wrong direction.But why the deviation. And by the way this is probably the third incarnation of online mapping of this route. Grump.

But Markinch felt like a good place. For a start, the Kirk on the hill is impressive: it seems to have a lot of things going on, and of course it has that

The revised section is a pleasant enough country walk which follows for the most part a significant drainage ditch (the Black Burn) running-east west. After a further attempt to confuseby waymarking: don’t go up the hill, go east (to the gate in the near distance) following the burn. The views are pleasant, in contrast to the road walking that Neil and I experienced on the first attempt. The path hits the road north to Kennoway and the mighty Kennoway Co-op. There’s a chip shop as well…..

And yes, I was fed up with it in the end. But the buses still work well….