So far, così buono, but not yet a pastel-painted village in sight. On a positive note, the next day dawned bright blue. As I started off, Kinghorn’s whitewashed harbour dazzled in the sunshine and, below the red-sandstone ruins of 16th-century Seafield Tower, seals soaked up the rays.
Soon I reached Kirkcaldy, which is too big to be Cinque Terre cutesy, but does offer a dose of culture. A young Jack Vettriano – Fife born, but of Italian descent – used to study the paintings at Kirkcaldy Museum & Art Gallery, and many of the self-taught artist’s most famous works are set on the wide, blustery beaches around Lower Largo and Leven, where he grew up.
Then, as I entered the East Neuk – Fife’s eastern corner – the fishing-harbour-charm started coming thick and fast. Over the next day and a half, between here and Anstruther, I strolled through Dysart, Lower Largo (birthplace of Alexander Selkirk, aka Robinson Crusoe), Elie, St Monans and Pittenweem, all interspersed with enormous, joyous, wild beaches, fascinating rocky foreshores and the odd golf course (this was Scotland, not Italy, after all).