I'd love to say I was feeling good and totally refreshed after my break at home but I wasn't. That first day back walking from Hazel and Derek's I walked 16 miles, with no walking poles and with new insoles in my boots... my legs felt like concrete and I'd ragged a big blister on my left heel, the new insoles obviously lifting my feet higher in my boots... 🫣😫
Fortunately, I'm not a winger and I've got a very high pain threshold !!! 😬 so much so that my granddaughter Ava could have me in tears with a Chinese burn and I would very easily winge about it for at least two weeks !!! 😫 I was hurting but and I had nobody to cry to so I had no choice but to suck it up and March on.
I entertained myself by looking at the lovely flowers and admiring the changing views of the bridges as I headed up the coast. It was at around tea time I arrived in Abedour so walked into the only pub in the village. I'd no sooner got my rucksack off my back when I was accosted by the only gay in the village, his words not mine... 😬I considered moaning about my aching legs and the monster wound on my foot but I was frightened to death my new mate would offer to give them a rub for me, I was just a bit concerned his hands might have been a bit rough for my delicate skin... 🫣😳 I had a couple of pints (officially the best pain killer in the world)... grabbed a pie and chips and headed out into the twighlight to find a suitable pitch for the night. Just my luck that after 10 minutes walking, the bridge has literally vanished so I had to head back !!! Good of the council to light it up so I didn't fall off the edge and break my neck but a sign to save me walking all the way down there and then all the way back up would have been more helpful...
It was dark when I got out onto the headland, I was checking out a few spots to pitch up when I spotted a fire burning down on the beach. Two young couples having a bbq on the beach and I had to apologise for scaring the life out of them lumbering into their broken night vision being sat so close to the fire. They pointed out that there was a couple of tents pitched over the rise on the grass, what a lovely spot at Silversands bay to wild camp in a motorhome or a tent. I woke up to a full aerobics session going on down on the beach which ended with all the participants running into the sea !!! 😳
Needless to say, I just watched and never joined in, I was too busy doing my own stretching and groaning and creaking while packing away the tent. 😫
The rest of the days walk to Burntisland was ok, nothing really to shout about. I arrived in the town late morning and I was famished, it was lovely and sunny so I sat outside the Waverley Cafe and cleared up the biggest Scottish breakfast I'd eaten so far. The lovely ladies wouldn't let me pay for my breakfast and they gave me potted history of the town and recommended I visit the small church, with a big history. As it was Sunday, I could hear the bells chiming so I said my thank you's and headed up the hill. Perfect timing as the service was about to start so I slipped into one of the pews in the oddly shaped church. The pews were set out in a square around the alter and pulpit which were positioned in the centre. Following the service, one of the chaps kindly gave me and few other visitors a guided tour. A fascinating place with an interesting story. In 1601, King James VI was on his way to Edinburgh to meet the general assembly but he fell ill so called the Assembly to him in Burntisland. At the meeting in this little church he proposed the new translation of the Bible which in due course led to the publication of the King James Bible in 1611.
Church visit done, I found the Lodge but not surprisingly it was all closed up, I headed out of town and up to a small hotel by the beach. I wasn't sure if they had any rooms but as Aaron was to be arriving from Lincolnshire in the morning to walk with me for a few days, I thought a night in a bed and a nice hot Bath would be a good plan.
I got booked in and before my bath I had a nice walk up the beach in my bare feet, lovely to get some air to my feet.
