Location: Balmerino Abbey, Fife
Distance: 5 miles/8km.
Time: 3-4 hours.
Grade: Moderate coastal walk with road section at end.
A Place of Peace
Although this beautiful section of the Fife Coastal Path is beside a river, it doesn’t feel like it. The Tay is so broad here that it seems much more like walking the short of a lake. The walk offers variety in both the immediate surroundings and the broader vistas, with poignant reminders of man’s influence along the way.
Shortly after leaving Wormit there is a striking new memorial to the victims of the 1879 Tay Bridge Disaster, when the original rail bridge foundered, casting a train into the freezing December waters. There were no survivors. From the memorial (one of two erected in December 2013 on either side of the Firth) you have a dramatic view of the second bridge, happily still in use.
Much of the section along to Balmerino is on the cliff top which means some climbing is necessary. The path is good, and in spring there are riotous displays of wild flowers and superb showings of dazzlingly bright yellow gorse. It is very quiet too: you seem to have left the modern world behind.
The path meanders along, climbing and falling, and after a lengthy stretch through maturing woodland emerges at Nether Kirkton, running between the house and the shore to pass a large boulder inevitably known as Samson’s Stone and curving left to the village of Balmerino.
This is an idyllically sited place with stunning views across the Firth and westward towards Perth and there are several very fine houses. Where the CP turns right, keep ahead on the road to see Balmerino Abbey (the entrance, a modest hole in the wall, is right opposite an NTS sign which points in the wrong direction).
You are struck as soon as you enter by a great sense of peace, even though the remaining stones barely hint at the grandeur of what must have been a seriously impressive building. It was established in 1229 by Queen Ermengarde, widow of William the Lion, king of Scotland from 1165 to 1214, and was a Cistercian foundation. Older maps and documents give the name as Balmerinach, meaning ‘the place of St Merinac’, a monk who is said to have accompanied St Regulus to Scotland in 347AD. Ermengarde died in 1233 and was buried here.
The Abbey follows the layout of its mother church in Melrose in having the cloister on the north side of the sanctuary. In the grounds is a venerable chestnut tree, one of the oldest in Scotland. It feels right somehow to have arrived here on foot even if your pilgrimage has been a rather short one.
When you are ready to leave, continue up the road to the junction. Turn left and immediately right and climb steadily to another junction. Turn left here for a final flat mile into Gauldry (or The Gauldry as the village signs have it) and the bus back to Wormit.
Roger Smith
ROUTE PLANNER
Map: OS 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 59 (St Andrews) or 1:25,000 Explorer sheet 371 (St Andrews & East Fife).
Distance: 5 miles/8km
Time: 3-4 hours
Start: Bay Road, Wormit (GR: NO398264).
Finish: Gauldry (GR NO 375240).
Public transport: Regular bus service (Stagecoach Fife route 77) from Gauldry to Wormit. Details from www.travelinescotland.com
Information: Dundee TIC (01382 527527) or www.fifecoastalpath.co.uk
Route
Follow the road west out of Wormit and along the beach. Enter woods and from here simply follow Fife CP signs to Balmerino. Where the CP turns right in Balmerino, continue ahead on the road to the Abbey. From the Abbey walk up the road to he junction, turn L and immediately R. Follow road uphill to next junction. Turn L and walk into Gauldry.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here