Venturing to the East

A day in St Monans

Once my American friend whilst on a train to Edinburgh asked the train conductor what he recommended she do whilst she was there. He promptly told her that he was 'a West Coast man' and what he would do in the East was get back on a train to the West. I do love the Glaswegian humour, and I must admit, I have a massive soft spot for the Western side of Scotland, having explored a reasonable amount of it!

However, my friends sister was up and visiting, and we wanted a day out and I had heard of St Monans from an article I posted about previously.

25 Places In Scotland That Are Straight Out Of A Fantasy Novel

We had the whole day open (which is a rarity these days) so I thought that it would be great to make use of the time and go a wee bit further afield.

One thing I will say, it took us a little bit longer than anticipated to get there, which was partially due to a scenic detour, which meant we ended up getting a great chance to see the Forth Rail bridge, having just crossed over it. I reckon it took a little bit longer than 2.5 hrs to get there. But, the drive was completely worth it, and parts of it were very pretty! If you had more time you could even pop to St Andrews whilst you were in that area.

Scotlands own 'Frisco bay?

The weather was actually really nice!

St Monans

The village used to produce a lot of salt back in the day, and also being by the sea it is a fishing town. I would really recommend going there because it is incredibly quaint. What I really liked about it was that it still seemed like a bit of a secret - in that it isn't an obvious tourist trap which meant that a lot of charm was still preserved. We went and at in a wee shop/cafe and the food was lovely and warming. We never went in, but there is also a smoke house which a pal has recommended to me. Walking around the village was really lovely, and we chose to walk along to the next village - Pittenweem.

Fife Coastal Path 

Walk Highlands says that the Fife Coastal Path is around 185km long, and we walked a very short section of it. The walk from St Monans to Pittenweem there and back was just under five km. I would be very keen to go back and see more of this path. The section we walked was very well maintained and ran pretty much right next to the coast, with some lovely scenery on the other side also. There have been efforts to conserve parts of the beach from coastal erosion but you are still able to access some parts of the beach. The walk was very gentle and I would think that it would be suitable for all kinds of walkers. Pittenweem made a nice stop too, as it was equally as picturesque. There is also the option to follow the path in the other direction to the village of Elie.

As you might be able to tell - I am struggling to narrow down what pictures to put in! I was really impressed with how beautiful the area is. I actually would love to go back and hire a cottage for a weekend away as there seemed like there would be a lot more to do. It would make for a nice retreat because it was so calm and lovely. 

The perfect Sunday walking day!

Up North to Aviemore

Aviemore and the Cairngorms 

So this is what the Cairngorms looks like early March! Beautiful and covered in snow! This was my first time driving up to the Cairngorms, and we did it in one day. From Glasgow I reckon it was just under a three hour drive one way. We were trying to keep the trip low budget which is why we didn't stay overnight, but I think you could definitely justify the cost of accommodation. It is a big day if you are driving! So at least bring coffee. We made a point of leaving Glasgow early to get there around ten, and left at five and had plenty of time to do and see what we wanted. 

The drive is pretty easy and mainly straight forward from Glasgow. Take the M8, get onto the M80 until it becomes the M9. Past Perth it becomes the A9 and you just follow signs for the A9 North until Aviemore becomes signposted.

Once you hit the Caringorms it gets pretty spectacular...

What to do?

Once we arrived in Aviemore, we went to the main town area and went into the visitor centre where they gave us some good leaflets and recommendations. Before I left all my friends who had been had talked about the funicular railway at the ski resort, and also Loch Morlich, which is pretty much what we ended up doing. We also picked up some stuff for lunch in the wee tesco in the town, pretty essential as once you leave the town there is nothing but nature 

Going up...

One of my most favourite pictures

Funicular Railway

I don't know if I was being daft but everyone kept talking about this and I had no clue. Maybe it's coz I don't ski so I am uneducated about how to get up mountains quickly... But! We figured it out. If you aren't at Aviemore to ski (which I shall be putting on my bucket list!) you can just get a pass to get up the mountain on the train cart. One of the leaflets we got given actually had a 20% voucher in the back of it, so have a look if you do go to visitors information. You might also be able to get discount vouchers online! If you are a student you are also able to get a discounted ticket. As we were walking through the car park a lady gave us a free ticket! So if you are done with yours, make someone's day and give your ticket away.

Mel was surprised at how much snow there was! The views are obviously incredible at that time of year and it was great being up high on such a clear and sunny day! You can see Loch Morlich from the top. There is a nice enough looking cafe at the top with a shop, and outside a lovely viewing platform! 

It was really, really bright and that is why we are squinting in this photo

Loch Morlich

We got to Loch Morlich at around lunch time so we started off the only way we know how - with a tasty lunch. We were again lucky that the weather was so great, so we just made use of the picnic benches. There are a few options that we found for various walks in our leaflets. There is a really obvious path around the perimeter of Loch Morlich and that is the one we walked around. It took us a couple of hours at an easy pace, and is pretty flat with a few gentle inclines. Ideal for people who don't want to do anything intense, but do want to spend a decent amount of time walking. I think it was just over a 5km or 6km walk from what I am able to remember. 

It's pretty cool, because you could see the ski resort we had just left. Even though it didn't take us that long to get down to Loch Morlich, it looks like it was miles away.

The photo below makes me feel so calm when I look at it. Everything was so still and wonderful. The walk was really nice as it wasn't overly busy either.

And driving back was pretty great too... I love the texture on all the mountains, with the way the snow has melted in different patterns. A sucker for scenery really!

Searching for Faeries

Puck's Glen

This has been on my to do list for a little while, and when we had some sunshine today I didn't really need an excuse to avoid the library. 

Puck's Glen is reasonably easy to get to from Glasgow. Follow the A82 from Glasgow, and when the road splits at the top of Loch Lomond go left onto the A83 following the coastal route. Keep going and eventually you will see a turning on the left for the A815 - I believe signposted Dunoon. Then you follow the road. We had a bit of a mishap in that we thought we had driven past it - only to turn around and end up pulling into the forest park for Glenbranter. We then realised we had been walking distance from it - as we turned around in Benmore Botanic Gardens, which I believe if you want a longer day of walking, you can add onto your walk!

When I go on adventures I have noticed that there always seems to be a 'peril point' where you think the walk is doomed and  are about to give up, and then it all falls into place. Ours was at the car park for Glenbranter when the heavens opened and we were sat in the car wondering how on earth we had driven past Puck's Glen. But then we figured out we had gotten really close and went back, and it was really worth it. The sun even started to shine as we got there and we had a great afternoon.  I think this may have been my favourite walk in a while!

Such an excellent model 

There is the option to do two walks - one of which (the red one) takes you through Puck's Glen and the other around Eckford House Estate (the yellow). From the carpark we set off to the left following the red route. Eventually you come to a split in the walk, where you can choose a couple of options. We followed the sign for the Upper Glen. Eventually you come out at a kind of Cross Roads, which has a sign post. We followed the sign again for Upper Glen, until you get to a split, at 'Black's Gate' where we followed the sign left. Then you continue down the path, which is signposted for Benmore Gardens, and we took another detour on the left which takes you down the side of the hill, along the last bit of the Yellow path, and brings you back to the beginning.

The last set of photos were taken from the Upper Glen section

The walk itself wasn't overly long - I reckon what we did took us around an hour and a half or so. It is a pretty steep walk, with a lot of rocky steps. Make sure you wear lots of layers so you can take them off as you walk. I didn't really think what I was wearing through all that much and was left with the choice of a really stuffy thick jacket, or bare arms and I got really hot! ha.


The pictures I have taken in no way do the settings justice. The forestry commission website talks about how magical the Glen is and I must say, I completely agree. The Glen is so lush and green, and there is a lot of water dripping down which makes it really atmospheric. One of the things I liked best is that the walk has minimal human presence - by which I mean that there is very minimal sign posting (it is only where necessary) and all the hand rails are very minimal and subtle. I loved that the path wasn't immediately obvious, and there was absolutely no litter (yay!) and the Glen was so quiet and secluded. I think as we got there later in the evening we were lucky to not really run into many people which made it so nice and peaceful.


Was so scenic, with lots of great little bridges, and the sound of the burn was so nice and relaxing. So many really cool old trees, and felt genuinely enchanted...

On the way down

Am hoping to bag one of these hills...

Would highly recommend if you have a free afternoon! Would also be great to go back a bit earlier and do a longer walk form Benmore Gardens, and along the same bit of road there were a few other bits signposted to explore. I am also pretty keen to bag one of the nearby hills, so watch this space!


More info:

Forestry Commission - Puck's Glen

Walk Highlands - Puck's Glen

And we even saw a rainbow on the way home