Diana’s Virtual Tour of the Kingdom of Fife ~ Pettycur

 

We are fortunate that Pettycur Bay and harbour are only a few minutes away from where we live. In fact, we lived in a flat at Pettycur Bay back in 2013 with a view over towards The Forth Bridge.

In days gone by it was from here that the ferry took the traveller over the water by ferry to Leith, Edinburgh.

It was at Pettycur that King Alexander III fell off the cliffs and died and a monument commemorates his life and death near to The Bay Hotel on Burntisland Road. (which over looks the bay and towards Edinburgh on the opposite coast)

Kinghorn’s own skiff, built by local boat builders and launched with aplomb, is called Yolande after the late king’s wife.

Witches were said to have met their deaths from the cliff top near the cemetery and on a dark day this is not hard to imagine as you walk up Pettycur Steps, part of The Fife Coastal Path.

For me, it is a wonderful place to walk and the stroll out to Black Rock and back can take well over an hour. Black Rock is also famous for The Black Rock Race where hundreds of runner make their way over to the rock and back. Some even venture at night time later in the year, using lamps on their heads to guide their way.

 

 

 

 

 

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Celebrating Scottish Authors December ~ The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan

I found Jenni’s name on a list of ten good contemporary Scottish authors and loved the sound of the title. I’m interested in pilgrimages, as those who read my other blog might know ~ and also allegories.

I’m happy to say that Sunlight Pilgrims drew me in from the start. I had no expectations of the book before I began to read it on Kindle. You must admit that Kindle can be a sterile way to be introduced to a book you know little about but I plunged in.

~ The world is freezing over. Rumours are spreading of an apocalypse. Temperatures in the world are plunging lower than any know records. Is it heading for another Ice Age? A massive iceberg is heading for the coast of Scotland as recently bereaved Dylan heads to his late mother’s caravan for a Highland retreat and to spread the ashes of his mother and grandmother.

This novel is spellbinding in its description of the changing climate. The unusual mix of characters are struggling to stay alive, but alongside this 2020 vision is an intimate internal struggle of families and individuals facing prejudice, dark family secrets, complex love triangles alongside the impossible attempt to stay warm in a small caravan park as temperatures plummet. There are many magic moments but also tense heart breaking times too.

As I said I had no preconceived ideas as to what this novel was about, but it has continued to haunt me for days after I reached the 100% on my kindle and I can highly recommend it.

The Birth of Kinghorn Community Library is Imminent!

Kinghorn Beach

It has seemed like a paper exercise for eighteen months now ~ like a scientist developing a theory before actually testing it. Signs were good. There has been a great deal of encouragement from the community and the press, but would it actually happen?

It is like the dawning of a new day here in Kinghorn. The good news is that now we have the keys 🙂 A bit daunting really, as well as extremely exciting. With over fifty volunteers ‘waiting in the wings’ (what a lot of cliches!) to do painting, sorting, cataloging, cleaning and all those tasks we have not as yet thought of but I know they will appear in due course, we are, after training, on task to open for two days per week initially on August 8th.

The big launch will be in early September.

We hope to reach out to parts of the community little reached before with activities, workshops, support for school leavers, unemployed and clubs. We aim to organise events to enhance community life but also to attract visitors from further afield. Ambitious maybe, but you need to harness the enthusiasm and inventiveness from the very start of the project with the aim that the momentum will keep us going.

We also hope to attract people to the area by offering some kind of tourist information – Kinghorn is steeped in history, mystery and is also a lovely place to visit!

If you are an author, speaker or have any ideas to offer, then we would welcome you with open arms. If you are able to give us some of your time then I’m sure we could give you a Kinghorn Library Renewed mug and maybe your name might go on a mural on the wall as a contributor to the library’s success.

If not, then don’t worry. Your positive thoughts would be much appreciated!