A hearty breakfast from the organic farm cafe at the pillars of hercules, was followed with a few purchases from the well stoked shop and nursery garden, the weather was looking great for setting off cycling,
We had taken a walk around the camp site the previous evening, we got chatting to a group who had hired the whole of one section of the campsite for their friends and family, which they were thoroughly enjoying due to not being able to go abroad this was their first time doing this, then we had a walk further up the road and briefly into the woods before it got too dark, when looking at the map(it was my cycle map) it looked feasible for Sheila to be ale to drive this road all the way to loch Leven our destination the next day, this turned out to be wrong! only a couple of mile down this road Sheila had to turn her wee caddy van around as it was closed to cars, there was a large locked gate, this of course was great for me on the daunder but it meant a longer drive for Sheila,
The closed to traffic road was Dreamsville; I was wishing it would be like that all the way to the Loch, it wasn’t it re-joined a B road which then briefly joined onto an A road, at this junction I came across a trig point in among some bushes, I was a bit taken aback by this; as there is very few of these anywhere that are just so close to a busy main road at low level near houses. Also, surprisingly to me It was in good condition, I couldn’t resist a hark back to my Shetland trig point adventure and hopped on for a photo, taking a note of its number and put it on my trigpointing.uk web page
At this junction it should really have only been a brief cycle on this busy A road for me, then it would have been a traffic free path down to the loch shore beside Leven`s larder café and country store, but alas Sheila was near the town of Milnathort in our confused discussion of where to park near the loch for our swim, I had said there was a carpark near Burleigh castle, I only new of this car park from my previous bivvy at the Loch side, as it was where I had come of the shore side cycle path joining the main road from this car park, it was actually half a mile from the castle! No drama though Sheila had all the swimming stuff ready, we even turned this added walk into a giggle as Sheila had her first backie on a cycle since her childhood,
Once at the waters edge on a small stretch of beach, I got changed into my full wet suit I was at that time a bit of a wimp with the outdoors swimming, mostly only going in with full wet suit booties and gloves on, I fully intend to change this but that’s for another time, on this occasion I was glad of the wet suit mostly due to all the algae that was floating about! I made sure I didn’t swallow any water and thoroughly rinsed and cleaned my wet stuff later, making sure I didn’t pollute other bodies of water the next time I wore that wet suit, we both thoroughly enjoyed our brief swim but decided if we were ever to swim in this loch again, we would choose one of the numerous other good locations around this large loch to go in where there would be less algae.
Yet again I had the better deal on our departure, Sheila had the uphill march to the car park, while I was going to cycle around the stunning walkway through the nature reserve on traffic free pleasant paths, all the way right into the heart of the town of Kinross, where me and Sheila met again at the loch Leven brewery, we arrived at the brewery at the exact same time! All perfect timing as it started to rain heavy as we went inside, the beers were delicious but sadly they didn’t do food (we were hoping to have lunch there) I had not eaten since breakfast and had a long way to go, two pints and a couple of biscuit bars out my pack would have to fuel me home,
The rain stopped Sheila went of to explore the town then head home in her wee van, I got back on the NCN1 route out of town, this was a long winding up hill section of road which taken me by surprise as this whole area is reasonably flat! The stretch of road south that the route took seemed to rise for miles! one of those roads you think is going to level out around every next bend only to see it continue going up for an age, I past a couple that were doing a cycle touring weekend break, they were also complaining about the never ending steep gradient, I chatted with them at three separate stops to catch my breath take off a layer and enjoy the view, I could see loch Leven low in the distance at the top, it never ceases to amaze me when I look back at where I’ve came from when spending an afternoon cycling, the loch looked so far away now it was a wow; I’ve done well moment the photos never do this justice,
Cycling past loch glow through the trees the road then stated to descend into small towns passing by Scotland’s bus museum! The route then got back to being a proper cycle path on the outskirts of Dunfermline, the rain had come back with a vengeance when I got to Dunfermline, it was chucking it down! I stupidly never had my cape or a proper raincoat, I knew the jacket I had with me would wet out quickly, the time was half past five and I knew I was around twenty miles from home, my original plan was to follow cycle route one towards Edinburgh from here at Dunfermline, this would take me a slightly longer route towards my home, it would also have me weave in and out of paths roads and towns, I have cycled all around this area many times previously and know it well, I once even had a romantic cycling weekend to Dunfermline with a secret lover, it’s a great place I would like to do that again someday,
There is an excellent cycle path from Dunfermline to Alloa NCN route #764, this is all flat tarmac`d disused railway line, I knew if I took this route, I would get home much quicker; I could potentially even make it home and get to my village pub for grub before the kitchen shut? With the rain slashing down it was the quick way home for me, along the 764-cycle route to then cut of onto a B road, which took me down to the Forth estuary coast at one of the most? if not the most! picturesque villages in Scotland Culross, where I joined a good cycle path on part of the NCN route #76 to follow from there to the Kincardine bridge, once over the historic category A bridge the route goes into the farm roads of an area known as Skinflats, to then join the Forth and Clyde canal to cycle past the kelpies of Falkirk.
The kelpies are running walking and easy cycling distance to my home, I had done the journey from Dunfermline in an hour and a half, it made for a fitting ending to an absolute class weekend away, to make it back to my local pub in time to enjoy some vegan pasta and a few pints
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