Anstruther & Crail
June 18, 2021
18 Jun '21. The beautiful names of Crail, Cellardyke, Anstruther, Pittenweem, St Monans and Elie make up this popular area of coastline known as the East Neuk (nook or corner) of Fife. As we sailed close to the shore in bright sunshine, these south facing harbour towns with their bright orange tiled roofs felt practically mediterranean.
Trying to contact their harbour masters proved a little more tricky. For the local council, Fife, own and control most of these harbours. The plot thickened when I was told by a council official that I must NOT interview certain harbour masters. So, with two ex soldiers and a secret weapon on board, we set off to do a slow recce of the coastline .....which was not without incident.
Our plan was to poke Good Dog's bow into each of the harbours and take a photo. Crail (photo 3) was picture perfect although a little shallow. Next, the tiny drying harbour of Cellardyke (photo 4) was almost invisible from the sea. Neighbouring Anstruther was inviting but again very shallow as it was dead low water.
Pittenweem (photo 7) proved a rather less inviting place.....and to be fair I had been warned! As I tried to call up the HM on the VHF radio to ask permission to enter, an irate fisherman told me in no uncertain terms (using a four letter Scottish word beginning with F... no... not Fife!) that yachts were NOT welcome in Pittenweem. OK, we got the message and beat a hasty retreat, deciding it was safer to visit by foot.
As you can see from Photo 1, my secret weapon Fiona did have a "non" meeting with delightful Bob Abercrombie the assistant HM of Anstruther and Crail. Bob was a retired mariner and having been a career Coastguard. He had done much work on converting "Pollution Drift" sofware into "Man Overboard" software which predicts where the coastguard helicopters start their search. He made us very welcome at Anstruther - a beautiful place and home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust. We highly recommend a visit.
Trying to contact their harbour masters proved a little more tricky. For the local council, Fife, own and control most of these harbours. The plot thickened when I was told by a council official that I must NOT interview certain harbour masters. So, with two ex soldiers and a secret weapon on board, we set off to do a slow recce of the coastline .....which was not without incident.
Our plan was to poke Good Dog's bow into each of the harbours and take a photo. Crail (photo 3) was picture perfect although a little shallow. Next, the tiny drying harbour of Cellardyke (photo 4) was almost invisible from the sea. Neighbouring Anstruther was inviting but again very shallow as it was dead low water.
Pittenweem (photo 7) proved a rather less inviting place.....and to be fair I had been warned! As I tried to call up the HM on the VHF radio to ask permission to enter, an irate fisherman told me in no uncertain terms (using a four letter Scottish word beginning with F... no... not Fife!) that yachts were NOT welcome in Pittenweem. OK, we got the message and beat a hasty retreat, deciding it was safer to visit by foot.
As you can see from Photo 1, my secret weapon Fiona did have a "non" meeting with delightful Bob Abercrombie the assistant HM of Anstruther and Crail. Bob was a retired mariner and having been a career Coastguard. He had done much work on converting "Pollution Drift" sofware into "Man Overboard" software which predicts where the coastguard helicopters start their search. He made us very welcome at Anstruther - a beautiful place and home to the Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust. We highly recommend a visit.