The Wemyss Caves, Fife, Scotland

28 February 2012 23:51

Walking is our main way of getting exercise but you get a wee bit fed up going to the same places all the time, so a couple of Saturdays ago we ended up going to East Wemyss (pronounced Weems) just for a change of scenery. Actually we started off in West Wemyss then went on to Coaltown of Wemyss and ended up at East Wemyss which is the location of the Pictish caves which are generally known as the Wemyss caves.

This is all part of the Fife Coastal Path as you can see from the map board. This area was mined for coal until quite recently and linen was also made here.

Map board at Wemyss, Fife, Scotland

The photo below is of the side of a rock face on the shore, but it isn’t solid rock, there’s a cave behind it, with the cave mouth facing out to the sea.
Rock face at East Wemyss.

THis is the cave which is in the rock and it’s one of a series of caves which were in use as long ago as Pictish times. There is some cave painting in some of them and it’s thought that they were not used as homes but were more likely workshops, possibly for people working with silver. The cave is actually much bigger than it looks here, it’s a deep and very high cavern. Apparently the Picts had warmer, drier homes nearby, which is just as well because as these ones are right by the sea they would have been very draughty and absolutely freezing at the best of times.

Wemyss cave

This is one of the smaller caves but it isn’t so easy to get to as it’s quite high up on a bank.
Wemyss Cave, Fife.cave

And the photos below are of the view which they had from the caves, I don’t suppose it will have changed much in the thousand years or so since the Picts inhabited the place.
seascape

You can just see the Bass Rock on the left in the photo below if you click on it to enlarge it. The rock is home to thousands of seabirds, and nearer the middle is North Berwick Law.
seascape

Time Team had a dig around the area a few years ago and if you’re interested you can see photos of what they got up to here.

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Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy, Fife

31 January 2012 00:26

You’re more likely to see far more oyster catchers in Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy than you ever see down on the shore. I’ve counted over 40 of them all feeding away on whatever creepy crawlie it is they’re getting from the grass. Surely there can’t be that many worms in the ground.

oyster catchers and squirrels

If you look carefully at the above photo you’ll see some squirrels too, there’s one on the grass to the left of the trees and one on the bark of a tree. Sadly they’re just the common, thuggish grey ones. You have to travel further north or over to the west to see the lovely wee native red squirrels.

The seagulls in the photo below are actually standing on thin ice in the middle of the boating pond. I was surpised it was cold enough for the ice to form. Some folks like seagulls but these ones are an absolute menace, especially if they nest on your roof. They’re just a pain in general. Poor Laura got mugged by one last year as she was eating her lunch ‘on the hoof’ on her way to work. A huge seagull came up behind her and she knew nothing about it until she felt a weight on her shoulder, the next thing her sandwich had been snatched from her hand. It can feel like you’re in Daphne du Maurier’s Birds sometimes as they eye you up and they’re the size of a dog!

boating pond

I was amazed to see a cherry/almond tree blossoming in January, at the same time as there’s ice on the pond. It’s usually another couple of months before these trees are in flower, the poor thing looked so cold. It’s been such a weird stop-start sort of winter. I’ve had some pelargonium/geranium plants in my garden which have been flowering all through the winter, albeit very bedraggled and straggly looking. It’ll be an even stranger spring at this rate.

cherry tree

Sadly quite a few of the really old trees in the park just couldn’t withstand the force of the wind of the second hurricane/gale which we had recently. Some of them had obviously been there since the park was first planned over 100 years ago.

The two conifers which fell over at the ornamental fountain are going to be especially missed as they were part of a formal design which is now lop-sided. Such is life – and the death of trees.

Fallen conifers, Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy

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Thomas Carlyle Lived Here

22 January 2012 00:36

It’s amazing what you see when you’re walking to the supermarket, if you happen to be in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh (again). I was admiring the gardens, there were quite a few viburnums blossoming, when I noticed that one of the terraced houses had a sign above the fanlight. Thomas Carlyle lived here – or words to that effect. It’s a very nice terrace but being Edinburgh the houses will cost an arm and a leg, even without a famous author as a past inhabitant. I love the fanlights above the doors, there are so many different designs. I just wish the present inhabitants would cut their climbing rose back a wee bit.

Thomas Carlyle lived here

It’s great that the window shutters are still in working order too, most of the houses seem to have internal shutters. It must make it nice and cosy, especially when there’s a howling gale. They would also be handy for keeping the early sunlight out in the summer, it’s no fun trying to get to sleep when there’s bright daylight outside at about 3 or 4 in the morning.

Thomas Carlyle's house

The house next door to Carlyle’s has quite an unusual fanlight (the window above the door). It would make a good pattern for a patchwork quilt, if you’re of that band of crafters.

Georgian House in Edinburgh

Carlyle lived in Kirkcaldy for a couple of years when he was teaching here but the powers that be pulled the place down years ago. You can see the street that it was in in a previous post here.

So what were we doing in Stockbridge? It wasn’t my fault (it wisnae me). Jack wanted to go to buy a book he had seen there a few weeks ago and hadn’t bought because he thought he already had it, he was wrong, luckily it was still there. He bought Space Chantey by R.A. Lafferty and The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke.

I ended up buying Mary Stewart’s The Ivy Tree and a 1934 copy of Priorsford by O. Douglas. Neither of them had been there a couple of weeks ago. That particular shop must have some turnover of books because they all seemed to be different this time.

Why was I at Waitrose? Buying more scone ingredients of course. Fingers crossed and ever hopeful that I can produce something good enough to photograph next time!

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Edinburgh with Evee

18 January 2012 00:51

As Evee said, the first thing we did when we got to Edinburgh was to pay a visit to the old cemetery across from Calton Hill in Waterloo Place. I wanted to take a photo of the names on the Martyrs’ Monument as I only took a photo of William Skirving’s name the last time I was there. You can see my previous post here.

Martyrs' Monument, Edinburgh

We huffed and puffed up to Calton Hill which isn’t far and is well worth doing because on a clear day the views across to Fife and of the city of Edinburgh are great. In this one you can see one of the islands in the Firth of Forth. I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s the one which is shaped like a battleship and the Germans apparently tried to sink it on numerous bombing raids during World War II

Edinburgh skyline

This is the unfinished monument nicknamed Edinburgh’s Disgrace, there was actually a lot going on behind this edifice, you can just see a white van on the right hand side peeking out but there was also a digger and several men hacking away at the ground behind the base of the pillars – who knows what was going on?!

Edinburgh's Disgrace

There are a lot of buildings scattered around Calton Hill and the right hand one is obviously the observatory but I can’t remember what the wee sort of mausoleum type building is commemorating.

The Observatory on Calton Hill

This one is the Nelson Monument which was built to commemorate Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. You get a lovely view from the top of it and it’s worth trudging up the 100 and odd steps to get there. John, the custodian goes up them every day about 12.50 so that he has time to wind the huge copper ball up in time for it to be dropped at 1 o’clock. In the days when very few people had a watch it was useful for the folks on ships out in the Forth, not that there are many ships today, just a few oil/gas tankers usually.

THe monument used to be inhabited by its custodian but isn’t nowadays, shame because it would make a lovely wee home, I quite fancied the idea of living there but I’m keen on lighthouses too, don’t ask me why because I’m not crazy about the sea, unless there is plenty of greenery in the view too.

Nelson's Monument

So that’s a wee bit more of our trip round Edinburgh. Evee did a much more in depth one which you can see here if you’re interested. Her photos are much artier than my snaps!

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Evee’s Edinburgh

15 January 2012 00:07

You might know that Evee and I had a day out in Edinburgh the other day and she has just published a great informative blogpost about it. Evee was born and brought up in Edinburgh so she knows a lot more about it than I do. So if you’re interested in the Windy City or you just want a wee bit of a keek at what we were up to on Thursday – hop over to Evee’s blog.

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2012 New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna and Gustav Klimt

13 January 2012 23:49

It has become a tradition in our house to watch the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Day concert. It’s a lovely peaceful way of starting the day, even if you aren’t nursing a hangover. There’s always a lovely mixture of music and dance and they show you bits of Vienna too, it’s somewhere I’ve never been but it looks gorgeous.

This year the dance literally revolved around Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss. I love his artworks, whether they’re landscapes or portraits. He was so great at getting the feeling of textures into his work which I suppose is why so many of his designs have been used for tapestry and embroidery kits.

The Kiss dance is around about 39 minutes into this video if you’re interested in looking at it.

I know people always slag off artists whose work is used for things like calendars, it’s daft really because it just proves that it’s beautiful and easy on the eye, after all you don’t want to look at ugly works of art for the whole year.

Klimt

I have this one above the fireplace in my living-room and I always fancied visiting the place, until I saw it on TV smothered by tourists and that put me right off. Now I’m quite happy just to have it on my wall.

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Edinburgh with Evee

12 January 2012 23:19

What a great day Evee and I had for our first ever get together in Edinburgh, a blue sky and shiny bright sunshine – what more can you ask for! Well I suppose we could have done with out that wind which cuts through your bones – but it would hardly be Edinburgh without that.

I think Evee looks great in this one I took with Edinburgh Castle in the background. It’s nothing to do with my photography ability I can assure you and I know that in the photo she took of me I will look like a complete dingbat, because I always do in photos, and that will be no slur on Evee’s photography abilities!

Evee

The only thing missing was all the other bloggers and commentors and yes – even you lurkers, you know who you are! Mind you we would have needed more than one day for us all to get to know one another, and that transporter from Star Trek, if not Samantha’s nose from Bewitched.

The photo below was taken from the top of Nelson’s Monument on Calton Hill. On the left you can see Holyrood Palace, it’s that building with all the spires and turrets like a fairy tale castle. The Scottish Parliament building is in there too, in the middle rear, with Dynamic Earth the white spiky one at the right. We still haven’t found time to walk up Arthur’s Seat, the hill in the background.

Holyrood Palace

I took the one below from Calton Hill too and it’s of Waterloo Place with Princes Street beyond and Edinburgh Castle in the background.

Princes Street, Edinburgh

We both took loads of photos but it’s a short blogpost tonight because all that rushing about early in the morning and walking around Auld Reekie has tired me out so these are just a couple of wee tasters to be getting on with. More soon.

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Edinburgh

8 January 2012 00:27

You might know that I’ve been intending to visit the Royal Yacht Brittania for some time now but things just keep getting in the way. As yesterday was the last day of the Christmas/New Year school holidays here we thought we would go for that overdue visit. Then on the way to Edinburgh the radio news report said that Britannia was being taken to a dry dock to be repainted that morning but she was taking on water and listing badly! So, that was that, luckily the fire brigades managed to deal with the water which was leaking into it and she should be open to visitors next month, when we’ll try again.

We were halfway to Edinburgh so decided to park at the Botanic Gardens and walk into town via Stockbridge. The National Gallery was having its annual Turner in January watercolour exhibition. The paintings were donated to Scotland by a collector who stipulated that they must only be on show during the month of January to stop them from being damaged by strong light. He needn’t have worried because there’s no sunlight at all where they are being hung, in fact it’s very dimly lit but if you’re in Edinburgh you should make time to have a look at them. They’re beautifully delicate looking, I think watercolour painting is far more difficult than painting with oils but for some reason people tend not to be so impressed by them.

The National Gallery of Scotland

This chap was just beginning to play his bagpipes so there was that usual caterwauling until he won the fight and managed to squeeze a recognisable tune out of them. The Walter Scott monument is in the background and the big wheel which was there over the Christmas/Hogmanay period is half-way through being dismantled. I once saw a Japanese man playing his pipes in Princes Street, in full highland regalia. I think he must have been fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition – well either that or he was trying to collect his fare back to Japan!

A bagpiper

Anyway, after that we had a swift look around Marks and Spencer, there was nothing worth buying as the sale things are now only in size 8 or 20 and thankfully I am neither. To George Street and Waterstones where I didn’t find any books I wanted to buy. I know, I’m not supposed to be buying any. Then back on down to Stockbridge again on our way to the car.

You know I can’t resist those bookshops but it was extremely slim pickings this time, just as well really as I have so many to read. Spookily though I did find a copy of The House with the Green Shutters which Peggy has just downloaded from Project Gutenberg. So I bought it, it’s just a paperback but it’s a nice big one with very clear print, published by James Thin of Edinburgh in 1986 but in perfect condition. It may well jump my reading queue.

I also bought a McCalls Needlework book, it’s sort of nostalgic really and I didn’t realise that it was published in 1963 until I looked at it at home. It’s nearly 50 years old but looks like new and it cost me all of 50 pence! The only other book I couldn’t say no to is a very old copy of Brand by Ibsen. I thought it was a play, I like his plays but it’s actually a poem, so I’m not sure about that. It’s an Everyman’s Library edition from 1917 though and has never been read by the looks of it. It still may not be! It was another 50p buy in a charity shop. So that was a very cheap but tiring day out in Edinburgh, not at all what we expected to be doing that day but we both need to whittle a few pounds off after the festivities so the long walk will have done us some good – I hope!

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McDonald’s No More

17 December 2011 00:10

I was absolutely flabbergasted, not to say dumbfoonert, when I walked past what had been McDonald’s in Kirkcaldy High Street last week and saw that it was all boarded up. I thought maybe it was just closed for refurbishment, although I did think it was a strange time of the year to do that. After a wee bit of research on the internet I discovered that it has closed down completely!

So much for all those people who say that kids are able to get work easily if they want it, and they are all too lazy or snooty to start flipping burgers, they obviously haven’t been to Fife, where they can’t flip burgers even if they want to. I feel really sorry for the people who have lost their jobs there because the town is such an unemployment blackspot and it’s going to be so difficult for them to get another job. Kirkcaldy always has been an area of high unemployment thanks to the Labour Party stranglehold on the area and having Gordon Brown as our MP who did absolutely nothing for Kirkcaldy except poke his nose in things which had nothing to do with him, and overruled the council.

McDonald’s isn’t everyone’s cup of tea or meal of choice, certainly not mine anyway but it’s a shame that yet another business has disappeared from the High Street. The only growth area shop-wise is charity shops and by all accounts it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

And if you fancy a bit of a laugh have a look at this puppet version. I think they’re great and the scenery behind them isn’t too bad either.

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More from Evelyn

6 December 2011 00:16

Just a quick one tonight!

I discovered recently that Evelyn of Evee’s blog is an even busier bee than I thought she was as she also has a blog called Peebles for Pleasure which is obviously about the Scottish Borders town of Peebles and is just full of gorgeous photos of the area, by Iain Mackay.

I really don’t know the area all that well as I’ve only been to the town itself for very short walks along the high street whilst on our way to visit nearby relatives. I’m going to have to give Peebles more time next time we’re there because we’ve been missing all the great bits. Just going by the photos I’d definitely move there if it wasn’t so far away from Perth and Dundee.

If you read books by O. Douglas (Anna Buchan, John Buchan’s sister) you’ll be interested in Peebles for Pleasure. It’s easy to see why Anna loved the place and wrote about it, giving it the name of Priorsford in her books.

The Buchan family moved to Kirkcaldy in Fife when their father, who was a Scottish Free Church minister was preaching at a church here. I think they lived in Fife for at least eleven years and Mrs Buchan in particular must have been ‘pining for Peebles’ all that time as the blast from the north sea must have come as a shock to her. They did eventually get back to the Peebles area.

It’s a bit of a miracle that I found Peebles for Pleasure because I don’t think Evelyn has it on her sidebar, unless I just can’t see it for looking at it – if you see what I mean. If you haven’t found it before and you like lovely photos do yourself a favour and hop over.

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