Well, it's been a bit of a change of plan for me today.
I'm here deep in the Kingdom of Fife in Kirkcaldy, to be precise.
I'm down on the promenade right next to the Firth of Forth.
It's an absolutely glorious day, and I'm looking for ruin castles
and hidden harbours.
My original plan was to take you on a trip down to Newcastle
on Transpennine Express, comparing first class with standard class.
But there's a train strike today.
So what I did is I pitched up at Waverley Station in Edinburgh as normal
and found that ScotRail was the only train currently operating any trains.
So I hopped on the first train that I could find and I'm here in Kirkcaldy.
It's actually quite a while since I've been on the other side
of the Firth of Forth.
You can just see Edinburgh over there.
That's Arthur's Seat on the horizon.
And one of the great things about grabbing a train into the kingdom of Fife is
you need to go over the Forth Rail Bridge, which is always spectacular.
So I sat back, enjoyed a really large cup of Americano
and just looked at the amazing views as we went across the Firth
of Forth.
Well, after I got off that rather noisy Class 158 train
that I travelled here on from Edinburgh, I had a quick look around the town center.
There is a museum
and as you would expect, a
cute shopping street with some really good old school buildings.
But today is about castles and that hidden harbor.
And this is the promenade in Kirkcaldy.
It's known as the Esplanade.
Fabulous views over the Firth of Forth.
Whilst this Promenade is actually quite lovely and the views are pretty good.
I think they're missing a trick.
Now over here there's a dual carriageway
separating the town from the promenade, and there are no shops,
there are no coffee shops, there are no bars, there are no restaurants.
So as a tourist, if you come along here, there's not a lot to see.
There are some big boats out there on the Forth.
Well, I've just walked the entire length of the promenade.
Next stop, Ravenscraig Castle.
And that's where we're heading
right on the headland.
And there's Ravenscraig Castle high
on the cliff top.
Well, this is a shame I can't get a closer look at the castle
because, like quite a lot of castles in Scotland, they’re falling apart
and the local council have actually cordoned this one off.
So you can't get close to have a really good look.
And I can't touch the side and feel the power of history.
Anyway, let's head to Dysart Harbour.
From Ravenscraig Castle we follow this coastal path
along the clifftop up to the harbour.
That's a pretty good view of Ravenscraig Castle from down here on the cliff side.
And a quite pretty little beach down below as well.
What a shame.
The castle is inaccessible at the moment.
This must be some sort of memorial.
And it's a poem.
“Black velvet shrouded waist.
Lit by shivering stars. A gentle swell.
Ghostly in the grudging light.
Phosphorescent bubbles.” Wow.
My goodness.
Just look at this view back towards Kirkcaldy.
That's where we started.
Way over there on the Esplanade.
And I think we're here.
Oh, my goodness.
Dysart Harbour
from high
up on the clifftop.
Oh, and that tower looks interesting, doesn't it?
We'll go and take a look at that shortly.
Now, I read that there's actually a tunnel underneath the cliff
that takes you into the harbour,
so I think I'm going to have to retrace my steps that way a bit
and get down to the bottom of the cliff to find this tunnel. Yep.
This looks like the way down. Yep.
This looks like the right track.
Here goes the tunnel.
Spooky.
It’s not too long.
I do like a spooky tunnel, though.
And here we are,
Dysart Harbour.
This is so pretty.
Especially with that tower over there in the background.
As Fisherrow, of course, not many boats in the harbour.
They're all up on the harbour side for the winter.
I'd never, ever heard of this harbour until today when I was on the train to Kirkcaldy.
Isn't it amazing what you can find when you get out there and look?
Looks like the harbour has multiple
parts to it.
I have to walk all the way round the back there to get to the other side.
And of course, we've got those cliffs right up there at the top.
Absolutely adore those lamps.
Almost Narnia like.
Round
the other side.
Isn't that just the best street name ever?
“Hot Pot Wynd”.
I want an address like Hot Pot Wynd.
I'm intrigued by this little building over here.
That's really cute, isn't it?
This place reminds me a little bit of that place St Abbs
I went to a while back, which had been used in the Marvel Avengers
Endgame movie.
This place is just as picturesque and could be a location
for a move in the future.
I'm sure.
And that is Dysart Harbour.
Absolutely gorgeous.
Okay, next stop, we're going to go and have a look at that
tower.
There's a gorgeous little promenade here.
There's the tower, we’ll get to that in a minute.
Look at those beautiful houses on the seafront here.
What a gorgeous location.
And more of those gorgeous lamps.
I wonder whether those are
holiday cottages or just local residents.
I'm not sure whether this is a ruined church or a ruined castle.
Let's see if we can find out.
And this is all closed up
as well.
Well, of course, Google is my friend.
This is called St Serfs, and it's an old parish
church dating back to 1500.
And there was even a version of it before 1500, but none of that exists anymore.
So yes, it's a ruined church.
What a shame we can't get inside just like the castle.
But I can still marvel at what I can see from the outside.
And this is as close as I'm going to get.
So feel the power of history.
Well, just think.
If Transpennine Express hadn't gone on strike today, I would never
have found this beautiful harbour and St Serfs parish church ruins.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
I really enjoyed my walk from Kirkcaldy along the clifftops to Dysart here.
Thank you so much for watching this episode of RogVLOG.
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Until the next one.
Remember, there's always something to see, so get out there
and find it.