A Drive and Dinner – Southeastern Fife

The family gathering at Loch Leven’s Larder in Kinross was over…and it was a very happy occasion too!  It was early enough in the day to explore Fife a little before nightfall and even more challenging driving ‘opportunities’!

No, as they say, we weren’t in Kansas anymore!  Driving on the left plus architecture unlike the norm in the USA made almost every road in Scotland interesting to us.  The 21-room Tudor Style Lundin Link Hotel, a family operated facility, is located on Leven Road (A915) on the north bank of the Firth of Forth in Fife.  They advertise the fact that they are only 15 minutes from the “Old Course at St. Andrews”. 

It was a pretty September afternoon in Scotland as we made our way along the coastal roads in Fife towards our dining destination.  I don’t know what town this is, but I liked the photo.  By comparison with many other smaller towns in Scotland, this main street is a ‘boulevard’ with lots of clearance!

Along the way, we stopped at the pretty little town of Elie and Earlsferry.  The 2 towns were merged in 1930.  Earlsferry, the older of the 2 villages, was first settled in time immemorial.  The story is that MacDuff, the Earle of Fife, crossed the Firth of Forth here in 1054 while fleeing from King Macbeth.  By the middle of the 12^th century the Earls of Fife had established a ferry here for the use of pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Saint Andrew the Apostle at St. Andrews…hence the name ‘Earlsferry’.     

Laurie took this photo of yours truly…

There was so much to see with so little time…  Just in the Elie and Earlsferry area alone, there are many sites of interest.  The town has an unusual parish church with a tall octagonal tower, plus ‘Elie Castle’, a number of classic 17^th century homes, a Scottish baronial mansion and, most curious of all, Lady’s Tower, not far from the lighthouse. 

Lady’s Tower was built in 1760 for Lady Janet Ansruther to use as a changing room prior to her usual morning bathing routine.  She was the daughter of a Scottish merchant and she was renowned for her beauty as well as her reputation as a flirt.  Prior to her au natural bathing routine, she would send a servant to town to advise residents of her imminent skinny dipping so they would stay away from her private tower…

Bonnie and Bill really liked this setting…  It’s just a ‘little’ different than what one might find in St. Louis Missouri in the USA.

This photo shows part of the Village of Elie and Earlsferry along the shore of the Firth of Forth.

Laurie and I took well over 1,000 photos in Scotland… I’m sure that Bonnie and Bill took at least as many!  

Little is known about the beginnings of the Elie portion of Earlsferry and Elie, but the village had become important enough by 1639 to build the Elie Parish Church.  In addition, it began pilfering trade away from Earlsferry since its harbor was more protected.

Note:

·        Firth is a word used in Scots and English languages to describe various coastal waters in the United Kingdom.  In mainland Scotland, it can be used to refer to a large sea bay or even a strait.  The Firth of Forth is fed by the River Forth, River Avon, Water of Leith, River Almond, River Esk and River Leven.  

The handsome town of Anstruther, along route A917, was our final destination and our dining objective.  With a population of 3,500 this is the largest community on the Firth of Forth’s north-shore coastline.  The earliest recorded lord of Anstruther was mentioned in a charter from 1225.   

James Melville’s diary provides a graphic account of the arrival of a ship from the Spanish Armada in Anstruther.  Local tradition holds that some the survivors remained and intermarried with the locals. (This could explain the genetic marker from the Iberian Peninsula that Ancestry.com detected in Laurie’s genetic makeup!) 

After parking in a lot along the shoreline in downtown Anstruther, I was startled to spot this old Desoto station wagon parked nearby.  I think that it’s a 1953 model and it was in great condition!  

Anstruther’s pretty harbor was full of sailboats, tourist boats and a few fishing boats.  Although tourism is the big industry today, I read that fifty years ago, this little port was so busy that it was possible to walk from one side of the harbor to the other by stepping from one fishing boat to another…      

Anstruther is home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum where visitors can learn the story of the Scottish fishing industry from the earliest times to the current era.  The museum is housed in the handsome complex of buildings shown above.   This large museum even contains 3 boats, the Reaper, the Research and the Lively Hope, which are recognized as being of national significance by the United Kingdom’s National Register of Historic Vessels.

If only we had 2 or 3 months to explore Scotland, I would have really enjoyed this museum, but such is life.  To learn more about his historical attraction, go to http://www.scotfishmuseum.org/index.php. 

Laurie and Bonnie’s cousin Hazel Innes highly recommended the Anstruther Fish Bar for our dinner, telling us that this is the best place for fish and chips in Scotland.  Fishing has been the lifeblood of owners Robert and Alison Smith for generations and now they’re preparing and serving quality Scottish Seafood.  Their efforts culminated in their restaurant being crowned as the United Kingdom’s Fish and Chip Shop of the Year in 2008/2009.  Website: http://www.anstrutherfishbar.co.uk/.  

Unfortunately, it was a Saturday night and the Anstruther Fish Bar was packed…with a long line inside and beginning to grow outside.  As I really didn’t want to drive after dark on my second day on Scottish roads, we had to seek another dining option…

As we wandered down the main street in town, I noted this Turkish takeout restaurant.  During the course of our trip we spotted several such restaurants as well as a number of places serving Indian cuisine.  We talked to several Scots who had great vacation experiences in Turkey and that may account for the demand for Turkish food.  Of course, the United Kingdom has had a long history with India…

Note:

·        In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, Anstruther was home to The Beggar’s Benison, a ‘gentleman’s’ club devoted to the “convivial celebration of male sexuality”.  To learn more about this bawdy group of Scots, you and go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar%27s_Benison. 

We checked out The Waterfront, another likely dining venue as we strolled down the street.  It had a great menu but it was totally booked for the evening.  

The next establishment we tried was a bit more informal… The good news was that The Anstruther Boathouse had one table available and we jumped at the opportunity!  I borrowed this photo from their Facebook page…

The interior of The Anstruther Boathouse is very casual as are most of the places along the town’s waterfront.  I was ‘dressed up’ on this day…wearing cotton slacks for the family reunion…but casual is what we enjoy the most.  For most of our trip to Scotland and Ireland we wore blue jeans and pullovers… As usual, we definitely over-packed for the trip! 

Our table was in this room at the Anstruther Boathouse… I know that the other tables are empty in this photo but they were all reserved.  Ours was too but we told the host that we would be done and gone by the time their expected guests arrived.  As it turned out, another table cleared for them and we weren’t under any pressure to finish dinner.

Let me think of possible superlatives… Excellent!  The Best Ever!  Fabulous!  Heavenly!  Spectacular!  None of them do justice to this bowl of Seafood Chowder… (5.50 PB/$7.20) It was the very best seafood or fish chowder that any of us had ever had… Laurie and I would be extremely happy if we could eat a bowl of this chowder once a week for the rest of our days!

Laurie loves mussels.  This was an order of Moules Mariniere…steamed mussels with shallots, a bouquet garni plus garlic, butter, and double cream. (6.95BP/$9.10) These mussels were very fresh and very good! She shared....

Two types of fish and chips were ordered at the table…a large order of Haddock and Chips ($12.95 BP/$16.95) and a large order of Smoked Haddock and Chips. ($13.50 BP/$17.70) Both offerings of this traditional Scottish and English staple were very good indeed.  

These Tempura Prawns from the Starters menu served as another entrée. ($5.95 BP/$7.80) They too were very nice.  We were rapidly learning that many starters and entrees automatically come with small salads on the plate… Salads in general aren’t big on many restaurant’s menus as a separate item, but this nice habit of serving side salads with the other food may explain that fact.

All in all, we were very pleased with our service and the food at The Anstruther Boathouse.  We will never forget that Seafood Chowder!  To learn more about this establishment, just go to their website at http://at-the-shore.co.uk/the-boathouse.html. 

Flowers… Gardens and flowers… Despite the sometimes grey skies and dampish weather in Scotland, bright and beautiful flowers and gardens were evident everywhere we went.  This example in Anstruther Fife in front of the Lifesaving Station and next to the main parking lot just brightens everything up!

To learn more about Anstruther and its many historic sites and attractions, just visit http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/anstruther/anstruther/.  For a concise historical background, you can go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anstruther.

That’s it for this edition of our Scottish adventures.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to follow us on our journey!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave