A lighthouse, yay! On a spring day filled with bright sunshine, blue skies and a breeze that could bite the ears off you, we walked the short distance from the small Fife town of Elie to the Elie Ness Lighthouse.
After another bout of covid, and our planned holiday abandoned, it was the perfect way to enjoy some fresh air and (a little bit!) of exercise.
Built on what used to be known as ‘Fish Rock’ in 1908, the engineer was David Alan Stevenson, cousin of the author, Robert Louis Stevenson. The lighthouse was deemed to be necessary as in bad weather sailors couldn’t see the lights on the Isle of May or Inchkeith.
Crossing the small bridge, I felt as if I was approaching a castle. The tide was out and the black rocks surrounding the lighthouse were smooth: Elie Ness being one of at least a hundred extinct volcanic vents in East Fife.
Of course I took the time to check out the wildflowers: Sea Thrift and Scurvy Grass, the latter being a new discovery on my ‘Seek’ App.
A heron set off on its majestic flight and a skylark’s song accompanied us (thanks to the Merlin Bird App!) as we followed the grassy path along to Lady Janet’s Tower.
Now there’s a story.
This puts wild swimming in a whole new light!
Apparently, Lady Janet Anstruther’s father (or husband) had a changing room built in 1770, on the beach so she could go swimming/skinny dipping at Ruby Bay. Whilst she was in the water, a servant rang a bell in the town so no-one would go near and when she had finished, she had the tower to ‘relax’ in afterwards.
Now that might tempt me to go wild swimming – the prospect of having a cosy room with a fire to thaw out in after an icy dip!
Lady Janet’s Changing Room
Walking back along the beach, we searched for Elie Rubies (pyrope garnets), didn’t find any but it was worth a try!
Buoyed by our visit to Elie Ness, we travelled along the coast to pop into Pittenweem (lovely wool shop!), Anstruther and Crail.
As it was such a beautiful evening, we sat outside to enjoy fish and chips in Anstruther with a superb view of the lighthouse and enjoyed walking the harbour wall at Crail.
What a time to travel around Scotland! Laden boughs of pink cherry blossoms, magnolia trees with their white or pink flower cups, tulips of every colour looking so perfect as to appear almost unreal. The cheery yellow of the gorse in the hedgerows and the sunshine patchwork of oilseed rape in the fields. Lambs sunbathing. What a beautiful country.
And finally, isn’t there always a last word? Well, it has to go to this yarn bombed postbox in Elie. Couldn’t resist popping a postcard in.
I am reading (and loving!) ‘Corvus’ by Esther Woolfson – might have popped into Toppings fabulous bookshop in St Andrews!
I recently visited the Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery and would highly recommend it, so thought provoking and inspiring.
Have also been inspired by my daughter, Katie’s fundraising for Teenage Cancer Trust as she trains to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in August.