#s24h

Arriving in Inverkeithing, I joined the Fife Coastal path which was to take me as far as Largo the following day. The Fife Coastal Path is an underrated long distance walking route which takes you from Kincardine at the Eastern end of the Forth Estuary, right along the length of the coast to Newburgh in the North.

The nature of the trail changes constantly along its 117 mile length, from well paved cycle paths to fun, swoopy singletrack that hugs an often precipitous coastline. It’s very well signposted, GPS files are readily available and given its proximity to so many big population centres, I don’t know why it’s not more popular.

The riding between Inverkeithing and Kinghorn, although tame, is very enjoyable and I made sure to say hello to our boat at Aberdour. Things get more interesting between Kinghorn and Kirkaldy and the single-track trail is more like a blue graded mountain bike route than a walking trail, with high skid and wheelie potential around every corner.

That evening, I made it almost as far as Wemyss and eventually crawled into my bivvy bag at around 1 AM, 21 hours after waking!

Setting off the following morning, I enjoyed more varied single-track, made my way through the rather dour Methill as quickly as possible, before heading inland at Largo in the direction of Ceres. 

Arriving in Ceres, I ate a tepid macaroni pie and joined a rather convoluted route of farm and forest tracks which meandered their way across the very pleasant high plateau which makes up the middle of Fife.

A mix of recently defrosted ground and recent farm activity made for some seriously sloppy riding which will have no doubt made short work of my bottom bracket.

After a short hike-a-bike section* on the North-Eastern face of Clatto Hill, I re-joined well paved trails which, as the high-point of my trip, would lead me downhill as far as Thornton.

*If one does not hike-a-bike, is it bikepacking at all? Or have I transgressed into ‘overlanding?’

I had hoped to continue further than this, returning via the coastal path to Aberdour, but commitments latter that day stopped me at this point.

Regardless I had a wonderful little trip which ironed out a lot of questions I had about my bikepacking setup. This also means I have cut out approximately 20% of the needless humming, hawing and faffing I will inevitably endure in planning my next big trip.