I think my ongoing knee niggles seem to be seriously knocking my motivation as after planning all of this I nearly couldn't be bothered... A slightly marginal forecast didn't help, however I headed out late morning into a stiff and cool breeze (It appears to be Autumn). To Glenrothes I did pretty much the reverse of one of my many commute routes home - through Blair Adam forest, up Benarty Hill, round Loch Leven and then through the Lomond hills. I stopped on the climb up Benarty hill to listen to a track being played at the nearby music festival (not sure, an SLF track I think but its name eludes me) I contemplated waiting for Bad Manners to come on but a looming cloud persuaded me to keep going.
Descending to Loch Leven I spied many more clouds and it was clear I wasn't going to miss them. Hey ho. I did miss the first cloud but ran smack into the second on the Loch Leven Trail. I hid under a tree for a bit and fortunately it blew through pretty quick thanks to the strong wind. Along the dryside road I caught the tail end of a third shower and was compelled to hide under another tree on the start of the Glenvale path whilst it blew through. Thereafter it seemed to brighten up considerably.....
Looking up Glen vale in the Lomond hills. This is an easy made trail that mostly goes all the way through to Holl Reservoir. One section is unmade and rather boggy but I picked my way through without any drama. Then the steep climb up the flanks of East Lomond, the wind giving me a big helping hand.
View back the way I've come (ish)
I bombed down to the edge of Glenrothes on another smooth trail and picked up the Pilgrims way at Balbirnie park. Markinch provided food which was eaten in the sunshine. I then headed out on a new section of path. They seemed to have chucked a lot of cash at the route as there are several sections of new path or upgraded ROW's / core paths. It was a mix of gravel path, farm track and field edges to Windygates and then a bit of road riding through Kennoway. The next section crossed Clatto hill and was one I'd been looking forward to. A lot of work has gone into this section and its really nice following various farm and forest tracks linked with new trails, including one particularly fine bit of singletrack down by a burn
One of several sections of totally new path
Clatto res - a new one for me. I've lived in Fife for fourteen years now and it amazes me that there are still some bits I've not been to yet.
Spillway and reservoir house
After this was a bit of backroad and then some field margin path - a novelty for me....
Then more old paths and tracks to Ceres. I briefly contemplated a pint here but the pub was full with a birthday party so I figured a muddy bikepacker wouldn't be welcome. Instead I bought food at the local shop and sat in the sun eating and contemplating my onward route. The strong south westerly wind was of mild concern. It was forecast to get worse and rain to come in the next day. The more north east I headed the longer ride home I'd have back into it. So I figured on giving St. Andrews a miss and instead make my way north and then west back towards home. I did this by an oft used route over the hill via a nice trail to Cupar and then a bit of back road, some nice farm track, more back road and then on a whim a new track from Monimail to join another track I'd used to link to the coastal path.
Doing this meant I narrowly missed another monster rain cloud that was moving over the Lomond Hills and tracking east through the Howe of Fife - a large area of flat farmland that tends to funnel the weather between the Lomonds and the East Ochills. I caught a few drops going through Pitmedden forest but as I emerged on the road down to Strathmiglo it had largely passed me by.
But looking west the sky was darkening generally with more rain to come, somewhat different to the dry evening the weather forecast had indicated. I figured a cop out was in order but in the event it worked well. I rode down to Strathmiglo, grabbed food and beers and then headed up to the posh bivvy spot in Falkland estate that I used last April and January. A huge rain shower came in on the cycleway out of Strath justifying this. On arrival at the site (an events and woodland craft space including a rather fine timber bandstand like shelter, complete with wood burning stove) I observed that no-one else was in residence so I unpacked and managed to get the stove going after a bit of faffing (it was remarkably chilly). Further justification of my chosen bivvy site came in the form of about two hours of solid rain. I sat in splendour in front of the stove and ate food / drank beer / read my book before turning it at 11. My sleep was disturbed by dance music fading in and out of earshot depending on the wind. Not sure where or what this was all about but it went on until 5. I woke up to go to the loo and noted with horror that several slugs were closing in on me. Glad I'd zipped up the bivvy bag....
Morning view, slugs all gone
The Fife 5 star bivvy spot.
I departed the site at 8.30 into steady drizzle. This came and went to varying degrees until Loch Leven where it actually dried up and the sun came out. The rain returned for the last half hour though making this ride yet another one where I ended up like a drowned rat.... Roll on Winter!
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