Coastwalk , Fife Coastal Path

Leuchars → Dundee

Distance: 15.06 miles
Ascent: 149 metres
Duration: 4 hours 50 minutes

The Tay
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Yesterday Mum did the rural, first half of the walk and left us for the tarmac of the second half. Today she had her coffee while we walked the rural starting leg and we picked her up for the closing tarmac trudge.

After passing Leuchars airbase (complete with shed for "Pipes and Drums" section) we crossed Tents Muir Common into Tentsmuir forest. Although it's said to be a stronghold of the red squirrel, the forest didn't reveal any of its inhabitants to us today.

It's still a stunningly beautiful walk, with plenty to see. At Tentsmuir Point we reached the mouth of the River Tay and turned west once more, soon finding the Harbour Café in Tayport where we fortified ourselves with coffee after collecting Mum. It's a great coffee shop, run as a local community enterprise. We'd highly recommend a short stop.

The highlight of the walk was next: the Tay Road Bridge. At a mile and a half, it's just a little shorter than the Forth Road Bridge but feels longer due to its arrow-straight alignment and lack of visual landmarks such as suspension towers.

Dundee was our target for the week and we'd intended to celebrate with a slice of the town's cake. Curiously the coffee shop we visited wasn't able to oblige; clearly there's a little work to be done yet in promoting the town's image.

All day I've been singing to myself Michael Marra's songs. Known as the Bard of Dundee, I'd seen him perform twice live — supporting Deacon Blue when I was a student in London, then just a couple of years ago headlining the second Solas festival. As we crossed the bridge the floodlights of Tannadice Park were visible on the skyline and "Hamish" (also known as "Grace Kelly's visit to Tannadice") looped round my head.

I'd hoped we'd have been able to celebrate crossing the river with a quick drink in Marra's favourite pub, the Taybridge Bar but alas time didn't allow. We listened to "Frida Kahlo's Visit to the Tay Bridge Bar" on the way back to our cottage instead.