Skulferatu #126 - Coastal Turret, Ravenscraig Park, Kirkcaldy

 

It was one of those days made for walking, cool and sunny with no wind.  So, I jumped on a train and headed over to Kirkcaldy, a town in Fife.  I have always meant to do a bit of exploring around Kirkcaldy, as I don’t think I’ve had a serious wander about there since I was in my early teens.  All I can really remember from then is going to a swimming pool somewhere near the sea front, and that there was a big ugly shopping centre, now demolished.  There was also a café, which may have been part of the swimming pool complex, that had a really good jukebox.  I have memories of drinking cups of tea to Bowie, Blondie, The Undertones, and lots of other stuff that blew my mind at that age.

 

Arriving in Kirkcaldy, I wandered down through the town, down the High Street to the seafront.  Though lively, the town seemed almost to have a bit of a split personality with trendy sushi places and cafés sitting next to run down looking betting shops, charity shops, bargain shops and derelict buildings.  The town centre is one of those places full of potential and screaming out for a bit of investment.  Maybe one day it will get some.

 

Wandering along the seafront I passed by old industrial buildings, new industrial buildings, and a few rather bland housing estates.  After cutting down by a rather ancient graveyard I ended up on the beach along from the castle at Ravenscraig, and just down from Ravenscraig Park.  There I spotted a small turret on a wall reaching out towards the sea.  It looked like it should be part of some grand Disney style castle, so intrigued I decided to go and explore. 

 

Ravenscraig Beach

 

View along to the Coastal Turret

 

The Coastal Turret

 

Bathing…at this point

A view of the Costal Turret

 

A view of the Costal Turret

 

Leaving the beach, I wandered up some stairs past an old Doocot and moseyed on to the little tower.  There was no castle, just this little turret on the curve of a sea wall.  It was nothing more than at attractive little folly to add a bit of interest to the wall.  The wall that runs around Ravenscraig Park and overlooks the Forth.  The park was originally part of the grounds of Dysart House and was gifted to the people of Kirkcaldy in 1929 by Sir Michael Nairn, an industrialist who owned several linoleum factories in the area.

 

A view of the Costal Turret and the Forth

 

Doorway into the Coastal Turret

 

View out from the Coastal Turret

 

View along the coast from the Coastal Turret

 

The Lookout Tower was built in the early 19^th Century, it serves no real purpose and was built as a folly or a gazebo.  It is however quite an aesthetically pleasing little building, especially when viewed from the beach.

 

After taking in the views, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, in a gap in the wall by the tower.

 

Skulferatu #126

 

Skulferatu #126 in a gap in the wall by the Coastal Turret

 

Map showing the location of Skulferatu #126

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.118922

Longitude -3.136093

 

what3words: decent.orange.reduce

 

I used the following sources for information on the Coastal Turret –

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Ravenscraig Park Lookout Tower

Skulferatu #64 - Path to Oxroad Bay, North Berwick, East Lothian

 

I haven’t walked down the path to Oxroad Bay for a few years.  Last time I walked along it, there had been a landslide and part of the path had fallen away.  This led to a slightly dangerous walk along a ledge with a sheer drop of twenty to thirty feet to the rocks below. 

 

My walk along the path began as an easy wander down the side of a field that lies on the road to Seacliff Beach.  The path runs by an old, stone wall and Tantallon Castle dominates the view on the way along.  I then made my way down through a gap at the end of the field and on to the steep path that leads down to the bay.

 

View of Tantallon Castle and Bass Rock on path to Oxroad Bay

 

View of Tantallon Castle from path to Oxroad Bay

 

As I made my way down, I could see that there had been numerous landslides since the last time I had ventured that way and the path was now a muddy slide that in places ran to the cliff edge.  It didn’t look to safe, but hey, everyone needs a bit of danger in their life to really appreciate being alive. So, I made my way down, leaning to the side away from the cliff edge just in case I slipped and fell.  Better splattered with mud that splattered on the rocks.

 

View of Tantallon Castle and cliffs from path to Oxroad Bay

 

View of Tantallon Castle and Bass Rock from path to Oxroad Bay

 

It wasn’t the most comfortable journey down, but I made it and then realised I’d have to go back up that way again.  That spoilt the joy of being in the seclusion of the bay a bit.  And it was secluded.  The tide was quite high, so the bay was completely cut off with cliffs towering above on all sides.  

The cliffs around Oxroad Bay are mainly made up of volcanic rock, however, there is a band containing cementstones in which lots of fossils have been found.  These have mainly been fragments of fish, though various species of pteridosperms and lycopods have also been discovered in them.  

Not being much of a fossil collector, I walked around the bay in the morning sunshine and watched the sea birds wading in the few feet of mud exposed by the sea.  They called out in alarm on seeing me wandering along the beach, a big, clumsy human in a bright waterproof jacket with a bunnet on his head.

 

Path leading down to Oxroad Bay

 

View of Tantallon Castle and Bass Rock from Oxroad Bay

 

I found some rocks to sit on and closed my eyes.  The winter sun warmed my face and the soothing lap of the waves made me feel at one with everything around me.  Then I remembered I had to get back up the path again.  Reverie ruined, I got up and made my way back round to the path and began my ascent.  On looking at it again I realised there were only really two bits that were bad.  In total maybe ten feet of the path and for some reason I decided that running up would be easiest, as being light of foot and fast would present the least danger.  It worked, and soon I was back up on the main path.

 

As I made my way back, I stopped by the old wall running along the path and left a Skulferatu in a gap by a love heart shaped stone.

 

Skulferatu #64

 

Wall along the path to Oxroad Bay

 

Skulferatu #64 in a gap in the wall

 

Skulferatu #64 in a gap in the wall

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #64

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.052649

Longitude -2.6472330

I used the following sources for information on the fossils at Oxroad Bay –

 

UK Fossils Network

UK Fossils - North-Berwick

 

Article and photographs are copyright of © Kevin Nosferatu, unless otherwise specified.