Knees up at the harbour

That's me, with shorts hitched up at Elie Harbour, on the Fife coast. You can tell it's been mainly sunny so far. Not that there's been no rain. Several squalls were enough to send me running for cover. And when the rain comes, the temperature drops by about 10 degrees.

Have you ever experienced the optical illusion when you think a road is flat, or even downhill, yet it turns out to be uphill? This happened to me twice today.
I guess it's to do with the lie of the surrounding land. It's a weird sensation, just when you are expecting to be freewheeling, you find yourself having to pedal like mad.

Today was relatively short, with plenty of fine harbours to visit. As the day progressed, the tide ebbed, so that most of the smaller harbours had dried out by the time I got there. That was a pity, because places such as Crail need to be photographed when there's plenty of water. The larger harbours at Anstruther and St Monans were still full of water. Many of these harbours are located at the foot of steep hills. So I have to do twice the distance, often having to push the bike back up the hill!

Some of the houses around these harbours date from the 1600s, and are virtually unspoilt. These houses (left) are at Pittenweem, the only harbour along the Fife coast worthy of its own fish market.

The day ended by meeting former Little Saxham neighbours John and Claudia Pleass, who moved to Scotland eleven years ago. They very kindly met me at St Andrews harbour and drove me and the bike back to their house at Milnathort. After a welcome bath, a fantastic meal was provided and a real bed now awaits me. Tomorrow they will drive me back to the coast. Aren't friends wonderful!