Firth of Forth at Aberdour

Posted on 20 February 2022 by Katrina

I had been looking forward to the 19th of February for at least a month, or whenever I realised that the big Edinburgh antiques fair at Ingliston was scheduled for that weekend, it would be the fisrt fair since befpre the beginning of Covid, I was desperate to have a good old rake around after more than two years of staying home. Sadly it wasn’t to be as on Friday night as I was tootling around on the internet I decided just to check up and make sure the fair was still on – of course it was CANCELLED! I was/am so disappointed. There was no explanation at all but possibly it was the horrendous weather forecast which led to the cancellation, although in the Edinburgh area it was just the possibility of some rain or snow that was expected. As it happens we’ve had a very placid weekend weather wise for once as Storm Eunice hit mainly southern England and Wales.

Anyway, we decided to drive to a rake around a ‘collectables’ place at Inverkeithing, which had nothing worth buying and then drove on along the coast to Aberdour, some ten miles or so from us.

We couldn’t take the usual circular walk that we normally do as the wooden footbridge that we have to go over had been washed away. So when we got down to the beach we just had to turn around and go back the way we had come, but not before I took a few photos looking out over the Firth of Forth, the first one from the wee harbour and the others looking over to Edinburgh.

As you can see it was a sparkling day! There’s another antiques fair scheduled for May, fingers crossed that one goes ahead.

Firth of Forth at Aberdour, Fife

Posted on 26 June 2021 by Katrina

Earlier in the week we drove to the very historic wee coastal village of Aberdour, just for a change of scenery. If you look carefully at the photo below you’ll see there are stone steps which have been cut into the rock years ago, but they have almost been worn away by the daily batterings from the Firth of Forth on its way to the North Sea.

I was standing on the beach at Aberdour when I took these photos and if you click to enlarge you will be able to see Arthur’s Seat, the Salisbury Crags and the smaller lump of rock to the right is Edinburgh Castle. In reality you can see it fairly clearly from the Fife side of the Forth.

The large building at the far end of the photo below is a hotel, well it used to be but it may not be now. There were actually a couple of women swimming in the sea, I think they must have had wet suits on though as it’s absolutely freezing and it wouldn’t take long for hypothermia to set in. There weren’t many people around though so it all felt very safe.

I should have taken a photo of the houses at the edge of the beach but I didn’t, however you can see them in the background of the photo below of Jack and our friend who had never been to Aberdour before. There are some lovely houses there but they would be very expensive as Aberdour is an easy train journey from Edinburgh.

But Maureen thought that this quaint wee house below on the town’s High Street would just do her fine! Do you ever pick out a favourite house when you visit a new place?

There are lots of images of Aberdour here.

St Fillan’s Kirk, Aberdour, Fife

Posted on 5 August 2015 by Katrina

We were visiting Aberdour Castle when the woman in the ticket office asked if we had ever visited St Fillan’s Kirk on the edge of the castle grounds. We hadn’t even known it existed so we made our way there to have a snoop around. The church dates from around 1123.

These ancient gravestones are at the edge of the pathway leading to the church. They must originally have been inside the churchyard marking graves, but they’ve probably fallen over at some point in the last 500 years or so since they were erected, and this is the safest location for them now.

When St Fillan’s was built it would obviously have been a Roman Catholic church but since the Scottish Reformation it has been taken over by the Church of Scotland, and it’s still used every Sunday for worship.

It fell into disuse during the 18th century and became a ruin and it’s only in fairly recent years that it was saved and brought into use again. There was a local campaign in 1925 to raise money to put a roof on it again and after only a year it was re-opened for use, quite amazing really when you consider that they even had to deal with a massive tree which had taken root in the chancel.

The modern chairs which have replaced the original pews don’t really detract from the atmosphere of the place.

I know that some people don’t like stained glass and although I’m really not at all religious, I’m always drawn to the windows because of the wonderful colours of the glass. Another point of interest for me was the framed lists of christenings which have taken place there in more recent years. I’m a bit obsessed by the changing fashions of names over the years, but I’m probably fairly unusual in that.

There is obviously no charge to take a look around St Fillan’s and if you’re visiting Aberdour Castle you should definitely make time to look around it.

If you want to read more about St Fillan have a look here.

Cramond village, near Edinburgh

Posted on 23 November 2012 by Katrina

Last Saturday we stopped off at Cramond after spending the afternoon at Ingliston Antiques Fair, near Edinburgh. Cramond is a wee coastal village near Edinburgh and we pass it on the way home to Fife. It was a favourite destination when our boys were wee.

The photo above is of the hotel at Cramond, the village is almost a suburb of Edinburgh now but at one time it was apparently popular with Edinburghers looking for a weekend getaway from the city, of the ‘dirty weekend’ variety. I haven’t read Muriel Spark’s Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, mainly because I’ve seen so many different dramatised versions of it, but I remember distinctly the actor Gordon Jackson in the 1969 film trying to persuade Jean (Maggie Smith) to go away with him for the weekend to Cramond – so naughty!

Most of the buildings have been whitewashed, as is traditional with coastal houses. These buildings are actually by the harbour just where the River Almond flows into the Firth of Forth. Cramond is thought to have been first inhabited in 8500 BC which makes it the oldest settlement in Scotland. The Romans settled there around about the year 142 but only stayed for 15 years or so, after which they retreated back to Hadrian’s Wall.

The photo above was taken from Cramond, looking over the Firth of Forth to Fife, the village of Aberdour is more or less in the middle of the photo but most of it is obscured by an island, the bigger island is called Inchcolm and we had a great afternoon out there last year, if you want a closer look at it take a peek here.

You can clearly see some wind turbines which have been popping up in quite a few locations. They’re controversial but I quite like them although I don’t suppose I would want one on my doorstep. That well known pain in the neck Donald Trump has been trumpeting on about them just today on the news as there are plans for some turbines to be built in the sea near his golf course north of Aberdeen. Apparently he hates them and thinks they will kill tourism in Scotland, and he would have built his golf course in Ireland if he had thought that his view was going to be blighted by turbines. If only we had known then and we could have waved him cheerio as he departed in high dudgeon for Ireland, and the people in Aberdeen wouldn’t have to put up with yet another golf course!

Aberdour, Fife

Posted on 24 September 2011 by Katrina

I’ve been neglecting ‘Pining’ the past couple of days because yet again I’m up to my elbows in wallpaper paste – doing Gordon’s old bedroom now. No don’t say that I should get professionals in to do it because in my experience they are just expensive bodgers so I would rather do it myself, I can bodge just as well for free!

Anyway, a couple of weekends ago we decided to go for a walk around Aberdour (again), just about six miles along the coast going towards Edinburgh. It’s too long to walk there so we took the car and by the time we got there it was chucking it down with rain. But you wouldn’t think it from the photos, it was one of those ‘April shower’ days in September.

We went to Aberdour so that my husband could take a photo of the war memorial there, he’s sort of ‘collecting’ them, which is a Sisyphean task if ever there was one as they’re all over the place and sometimes in the most unexpected locations, but I leave them to him. I was more interested in this ancient doorway leading into the grounds of Aberdour Castle. It dates from 1632.

And this is what you can see when you get through the doorway.

It’s still pretty and colourful even in September. Aberdour Castle is one of the few castles which I think would have been quite comfy and pleasant to live in in its heyday and it’s worth a visit if you’re ever in that vicinity.

By the time we walked around Aberdour my feet were absolutely squelching wet, completely drookit. What is it about modern footwear manufacturers? They seem to have lost the ability to make shoes and boots waterproof. I had on my fairly expensive hiking boots and after about a year they started to leak. Am I expecting too much? Is it just me or do other people have the same problem with footwear nowadays?!

Pining for the West

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Tag Archives: Aberdour

Firth of Forth at Aberdour

Firth of Forth at Aberdour, Fife

St Fillan’s Kirk, Aberdour, Fife

Cramond village, near Edinburgh

Aberdour, Fife