Walk 118 – Crossford & Cairneyhill Circuit, Fife – 4.4 miles

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This circuit runs between the villages of Crossford and Cairneyhill following quiet country roads, open farmland and the Dean woods, before returning to the start along the wide pavement on the A994. From the Dean you will enjoy lovely views down across both villages and the Firth of Forth!

Print Dog-friendly walk (note: some on-road and pavement sections)

  Car parking at Crossford Scout Hall (KY12 8AP). Bus stops on Cairneyhill Rd/A994, a short walk from the start point. Closest bus and train stations are in Dunfermline, approx 2 miles away.

Crossford & Cairneyhill Circuit

WALK REVIEW: 12th March 2017

A new day, a new dog…. my friend was looking after her sister’s 2 year old Labradoodle ‘Happy‘ for a couple of weeks starting from today and after his long drive up from Oxford we reckoned he would be only too happy to accompany us on a long walk!

We had been used to walking Bodhi, a 1 year old Golden Retriever, and in comparison today was a breeze. Of course it all comes down to different breeds being interested in different things. While Bodhi would have made a b-line for every muddy puddle and burn we passed,  Happy seemed content to just plod along avoiding them all. While Bohdi would have run off at top speed as soon as he was let off his head, Happy never strayed more than a few meters in front before hanging back to wait for us to catch up.  What they did have in common was a love of playing with other dogs, and a love of treats (otherwise known as the T word!) But sssshhh… don’t tell their owners! 😉

The walk itself was really enjoyable and I would definitely do it again. We were out in the countryside within 5 minutes of starting and didn’t come back into ‘civilization’ until the very last 15/20 minutes. The tracks were muddy in places but we had gone prepared for that in wellies/hiking boots so it wasn’t a problem. The sun even came out towards the end 🙂

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This is the bottom end of Lundin Road with it’s lovely houses. The country road we took is just around the bend where the road begins to head uphill.
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Quiet road between Crossford and Pitconnochie Farm
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The huge blue barns of Pitconnochie Farm can be seen from the main road and also from within the Dean woods. The route we took goes through the gates on the right of this photo and onto the field.
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I would love for all farmers to do this: a very reasonable (and polite!) request. I generally get a bit sweaty at the thought of crossing a field, even though I am aware of the Scottish rights of access law. You just never know how the farmer feels about it.
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Track across the field heading for the Dean
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On reaching the Dean we turned left to go up these stairs. It seemed like these were a fairly recent addition to improve the footpath
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Inside the Dean woodland – this is Happy, the 2 year old Labradoodle. He had a great time on this walk!
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The path was pretty muddy in places but nothing to worry about if you go prepared.
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The road into Cairneyhill from the Dean. Again it was really quiet; only one car passed us the entire time.

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