Walk Leader - Betty

It was a windy but dry day as a big crowd of us gathered in Culross to walk round Valleyfield Woodland. There were 29 of us and another 3 had cancelled so it looks like Culross is a popular place to walk. We were joined by Anne from Cumbernauld and Kilsyth and Nina from Perth and District.

The view across the water was stunning as we headed along the Fife Coastal Path to our coffee stop at the entrance to Valleyfield Woodland Park, Then it was up through the woodland following the Snowdrop Trail to the walled garden. The snowdrops and the butterbur were putting on a lovely display. We followed the Bluther Burn to the community garden to look at the ruins of the gardeners’ cottage where David Douglas the botanist lived when he worked at Valleyfield. There is work going on here to partially restore the building and prevent further deterioration.

The next section of the walk was new to me as we came under the Torryburn bypass to skirt round High Valleyfield and bring us to the top end of Culross beyond the Abbey. This is where those doing the shorter walk would leave us, but everybody opted for the 7 miles so off we set. Too quickly I’m afraid as I took the wrong road!  Everyone was admiring the view ahead when I realised the view wasn’t there on the recce!  Sorry about that. Soon we were on the right road and then the Moor Path. After passing the ruins of the West Kirk we turned down towards Culross stopping for lunch in the woods. This section was very muddy and I’m  thankful nobody fell. Very quickly we were back on the coastal path and at the car park. The forecast had not been good but the rain stayed away and it was fine for walking.

I had a lot of assistance from other Walk Leaders on this walk which was great, because there were a lot of walkers and we did have a short road section. So thanks to Billy and Alistair for being backmarkers, to Babs for being middle marker on the road and for being prepared to take the shorter route back if anyone had wanted to. Special thanks to new walk leaders Angela and Anne for leading a good part of the walk. This meant I could walk in the middle of the group and chat to people. I hope you enjoyed putting your map reading skills into action and it hasn’t put you off. Thanks to everyone who sent in photographs.

Thanks must also go to Chris from Glenrothes Ramblers who gave me the new section of the route.

Finally thank you all for coming. It’s great to see so many of our group coming out on a walk at the end of February when the forecast is bad and with water and mud underfoot. I hope you enjoyed the walk and I know you enjoyed the company.

Most of us ended up at the Puttery so thanks to all the staff there for being so welcoming. We did enjoy the tea, coffee, goodies and gin.

Photos courtesy of Betty, Babs, Lynne, Wendy and Billy for the photos.

Click link to view more Photos:  Culross and Valleyfield Woodland Circular

(Note from Allan.) Thanks to all those who sent me your photos of the walk. If there are any duplicates or similar photos, I will select the best ones.