Monday 8th December 2008 - Kirkcaldy Town Walk

In the house today having arranged for a Sky engineer to come to the house some time between 8am and 1pm. Would you believe it, he arrived at 8am saying that I was his first call of the day. after twenty minutes he was finished and I took the kids down to school. Arriving home about 9am I realised that I had the rest of the day to myself so I decided to sneak in an extra walk without my chum Davy.

I had previously thought about a walk round Kirkcaldy and, call me an anorak, had driven the car along the route to find that it measures 8.2 miles (circular).


I figured that the walk would take approximately 2 hours 30 mins, walking at a reasonable pace. I set off from my house at Hollybrae at 10:10am and headed west along Chapel Level towards the roundabout at the retail park (Sainsbury's). The retail park was built a few years ago on the site of the old Chapel Farm house, easily identified by the large glass conservatory attached to it. In fact this whole farmland and wooded area has been / is being developed for retail units and housing, my house included.


From there I then turned southwards (all without the aid of a compass you know) along Wester Bogie Road. The name of this road seems to be a constant source of amusement for my kids, not sure why! Continuing along this road takes you onto Oriel Road which heads into the town centre area of Kirkcaldy. At the southern end of Oriel Road you pass the site of the old Slaughterhouse and Auction Market. This building was still in use when I was a young police constable in Kirkcaldy in 1980, in fact I remember having to visit it periodically to check their various licences were in order. I think it was demolished in the mid eighties. On the other side of the Oriel Road they are now building a new Lidle supermarket on the site of the Dutch Mill pub. Many a drunken night was spent there in my youth (yeh I know, I'm sounding like an old fart!)


At the bottom of Oriel Road I turned right onto Forth Avenue and walked southwards towards the roundabout at the entrance to the Beveridge Park. The park dates back to 1892, when Provost Michael Beveridge bequeathed 104 acres of Raith Estate to the people of Kirkcaldy. It has undergone some major improvements in the last couple of years and is getting back to its former glory.


Turning left at the roundabout I then headed eastwards down Nicol Street. Crossing the road at the crossroads with High Street, I noted that the pub building on the south east corner of the junction is still empty. This has changed hands a few times but I remember it best as Uncle Toms Cabin. Davy and I used to be regulars in this pub in the eighties and remember a memorable 'lock-in' one Christmas night with the bar staff. I seem to remember that the manager found out and one of the bar staff got crucified for it and had the pub keys taken from him so there couldn't be a repeat.


At the foot of Nicol Street I turned left onto the Esplanade. This is the site of the longest street fair in Europe in April each year, the Links Market.

On the left, just after turning onto Esplanade is Volunteers Green. Volunteers’ Green is all that is left of almost 9 acres of ground presented to Kirkcaldy by Charles I in 1644. In 1972 plans to create a multi-storey car park on a large area of Volunteers’ Green brought floods of protest and a petition was signed by around 2000 people to save the Green. Out of this protest the Kirkcaldy Civic Society was born. In 1992 the council landscaped the area.

I continued along the Esplanade, passing the site of another old haunt of Davy's and mine, Jackie O's. This used to be the busiest night club in Kirkcaldy, although I think we used to call them 'discos' in the eighties. It's still a night club, called the Candle Rooms I think, but I don't think i've been in it since it was Jackie O's.


At the north end of the Esplanade the roadway continues on to become the High Street for a short distance, passes the harbour area and then inclines steeply onto The Path. At the top of the path you pass another historic old building, Path House (formerly Dunnikier House). This was built by John Watson, a local skipper and merchant in 1692.



Continuing along The Path, the roadway joins Nether Street at Pathhead. On the seaward side of he road lies the remains of Ravenscraig Castle. The castle was built by James II in the 1450's and is located on a promontory, high above the beach, with views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. Ravenscraig was one of the first castles in Scotland built to withstand cannon fire, with very thick walls. The long flight of steps leading down from the castle to the Pathhead Sands is said to have been the inspiration for John Buchan's novel "The Thirty-nine Steps". On one of our drunken escapades in our twenties, Davy and I were walking along the road at Nether Street on the way back (not sure to where?) from a night on the town. We were so pissed that Davy fell against a low boundary wall at Ravenscraig Castle and fell over it, landing on his shoulder with such an impact that he fractured the ball joint within the socket. I remember killing myself laughing and I don't think Davy realised how hurt he was until the next day when he sobered up. Anyway, I think it led to a few weeks off work for him.



On the opposite side of the road at Nether Street, loom the tower blocks which dominate the skyline. Built in the 1960's they are regarded by some as an integral part of the town and by others as an eyesore. I think I probably think that they are a bit of an eyesore, particularly as they are built opposite such a historic site, Ravenscraig Castle.



I then turned left at Nether Street and started the long walk up St Clair Street. Turing left onto Park Road I continued northwards onto Dunnikier Way.

Dunnikier way is very flat along its length and before very long I was back onto Chapel Level and heading back into Hollybrae estate and home.

The walk took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete and was pretty tiring on the legs as it was all on footpaths or road.

Thoroughly enjoyable though, I had music to keep me company rather that the incessant jabbering of Davy. Only kidding Davy!