Tuesday, June 18, 2013

"The Farmer and the Cowman" #8

This is a line from a song in the musical, "Oklahoma, "the farmer and the cowman can be friends".   It is about land use.  Neighbors who have very different ideas.  Farmers need to fence things in.  Plant and grow.  Not so, the cowman.  What does this have to do with the Kingdom of Fife, and the Fife Costal Path, you say?  Well, here is one Scottish version of that tune.  "The golfer and the hiker can be friends".  I love golf - started playing at the age of 11.  And this is golf mecca.  Golf was first played on the links at St. Andrew's in the early 1400's.  The Fife Coastal Path skirts many private and public courses.  Some excellent mixed use with separate trails bordering but sharing space.  A few times sharing roads. One time crossing a fairway, with due warning and courtesy reminders.  However, there is a dark side here. At times the path unceremoniously dumps the hiker onto unmarked stretches of beach with boulders to clamber over and a paucity of markers or unkempt overgrown pathways.  At one point, trapped between the golf course and the deep blue sea, the hiker is advised, in case of high tide, to wait until the tide recedes. 

Scottish word of the day:  Partan - crab

Jungly challenge



Boulder hopping


Chill!




Sharing is good!  Views from the trail.



 


Kingsbarns to Saint Andrew's - 11 miles

Setting and checking lobster/partan traps.






Entering the enchanted forest - where faeries still abide.











Exiting the enchanted forest




(Photo by Emily Metz)




Buddo Rock








































No comments:

Post a Comment