The end (people in front walking for Guide Dogs, hence the ears)
After a few months of talking the talk, yesterday it was finally time for the 20-mile Dundee Kiltwalk. The forecast was sunshine so it was on with the suncream, plenty of water in the bottles and hats most definitely packed (I've done some of this walk before with a friend and quite a lot of it is shadeless). This is the map:
Daughter and I had booked places on the bus out to the start at St Andrews, partly because I was interested to get the atmosphere in the build-up to the event. These kiltwalks have been on in different parts of Scotland for a few years now and are very popular (this year was Dundee's biggest with over 4000 people taking part). Not usually one for large public gatherings (I'm not great in crowds), I like walking and that area in particular so that's why I decided to brave the hoards. The buses were very well organised and full and we set off at 8.30am as planned. There was lots of excited chatter on board, quite a lot of groups of work colleagues by the sounds of it, and it was a lovely smooth trip over the bridge and into Fife.
Crossing the tinted Tay about 8.30 am
Once off the bus it was the first portaloo visit (no photos) and then into the start line area (loud Proclaimers, as expected, bagpipes and a very excited man on the microphone shouting about big men, wee men, basically all the men). It was overcast at this point and quite a long build-up (they stagger the starts to spread out the walkers) but it was ok, not too squashed up or unpleasant. I mean, look at this cheerful daughter at the start:
Laughing daughter
Start line, waiting for countdown
Then off we went, past the famous golf course and onto the path along the road towards Guardbridge and Leuchars. Pretty soon the clouds disappeared and the sun was with us for the rest of the day. Some views along this section:
That golf course
So far so good. People were walking faster than I expected on the whole - were they all after beating personal bests (not really our thing)? Did they just want to get it all over with? Maybe they just wanted to get to the portaloos quickly, I have no idea. When the path got narrow at times this meant it wasn't the most relaxing experience but it was still ok - friendly and cheerful and lots of interesting t-shirts for different charities. Some people even had handwritten signs about who they were walking for - people who had died - and that was very moving. Although we were walking for Turner Syndrome Support Society this year we had also considered walking for a Pancreatic Cancer charity in memory of our friend Phyl who died at the end of 2024. I think every time we saw one of those signs, or even the cancer charity t-shirts (and there a lot of them), we thought of Phyl and how much she loved the great outdoors.
After Guardbridge we felt we needed a lift so we decided to give the playlist a go and had a lot of fun skipping about to Wicked songs and such on our way through Leuchars. It was well worth getting that bluetooth splitter thing and we used it on the day a lot more than I thought we would (so don't worry, no one else had to hear our musical choices). As expected, sometimes the tunes did make us walk a bit faster than was necessarily wise on such a warm day and we had to take a slow track to recover. For some reason the track of the day (and in fact the whole season) was Raye's Worth It. Something about the lightness of that track picked us right up every time. I think I even did a twirl at one point.
Other than that I wouldn't say this was the most fun section of the walk. A lot of narrow path and a lot of walkers did turn this into something of a march and you couldn't really stop, even if you wanted to (most photos were taken whilst moving, I had to straighten a few of them up later on). It was a bit like being part of a tartan snake at times as we wound away towards the trees. There was very little shade once out of Leuchars but luckily no clouds of little flies as happened the previous time I'd walked this section in 2015. Views on the section from Guardbridge and into Tentsmuir:
Daughter with headphones most definitely on
Heading towards Tentsmuir
After this stretch it was quite a long walk through the forest to the next pitstop. There is a lovely beach along the forest here (Kinshaldy beach) and I'd hoped we might catch sight of it at least (maybe even veer off for a paddle if we fancied and weren't bothered about personal best times) but we didn't get near enough to even see it on this route (and it was such a beautiful day). I can understand why they keep this large group of people on track and away from what was probably quite a busy beach and carpark but still, it did seem a shame. Anyone who didn't know the area might never know what delights were waiting on the other side of the trees.
Through Tentsmuir forest
Just before the second pitstop we were quite pleased to get to the halfway mark:
Ten miles to go
The second pitstop was not a highlight - this was lunchtime for most but there wasn't much space to sit and have whatever you'd brought to eat, water and snack supplies were low at the tables, there were some very full bins and no view of anything much so we ate quickly, used the portaloos and moved on. Plus they were blaring bloody Coldplay out of a loudspeaker - it's almost like they didn't want us to hang about.
Second pitstop
The next bit of path was a track full of little stones so not the most comfortable walk - we dealt with this by putting the headphones back on and having as much fun as we could. Orla dancing in the Derry Girls last episode has given us a love for that Dario G track that I never thought I'd have so that was a good one for some of this quite long, hot bit of the path (again, last time I did this I took the beach option, highly recommended if you can walk on sand). Trees were lovely though of course (who doesn't love a tree?).
Heathers
Eventually we were through most of the forest and could see the river, some lonelier trees, Tayport ahead and Dundee over the water.
Nearly at Tayport
Dundee in the distance
Non-stop sun got us to the penultimate (and nicest) pitstop in Tayport. There was space to spread out, plenty of snacks, even bubbles in the air. There was also someone dressed up as something like Darth Vader, not sure what that was about. He must have been warm.
Tayport pitstop
With the river Tay constantly in sight, it was a lovely stretch through Tayport and towards the road bridge. Still hot but more varied views and everyone in a good mood. One local was sprinkling us with cool water from their hose as we went by (very welcome). Pics below from Tayport to the bridge - it's a lovely walk and we should do it more often.
There was a final pitstop at the bridge but we had the end in sight so ploughed straight on.
Fife end of Tay Road Bridge walkway
Then it was down to Slessor Gardens to cross the finish line, get the medal and free meal (really not bad, I had the veggie chilli), be met by our number one supporter and collapse. Daughter doesn't consider herself sporty but did really well and didn't seem tired at all at the end. She also didn't faint (happens sometimes in extreme heat) so that was a bonus too. I felt about 1000 years old by the end but feel fine today so I must be fitter than I felt at teatime yesterday.
The end
You can still donate to our Just Giving page here if you haven't already. We are at about £750 at time of writing and would love to make it up to £1000 for the Turner Syndrome Support Society (a small charity run by dedicated people). Beyond that, thanks for following this prep and trek. Cheers!
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