Today’s guest picture comes from our son Tony’s partner Marianne. It shows the Tootlepedals and Tony on the harbour wall at Pittenweem yesterday. Tony is highly amused as he is taking a picture of Marianne taking a picture of us.
Tony is recovering from an operation on his wrist, and as a result he was able to spend some time with us when he would otherwise have been busy at work. It’s an ill wind as they say.
Those who know the ways of the weather gods will not be at all surprised to hear that since we were going home today after two rather murky days in East Wemyss, the weather cleared up a lot this morning, and we had a set of very fine views across the Forth.
Of course it couldn’t last, and when we went for a short walk, it started to rain. The gods had the last laugh though, when the sun shone brilliantly as we prepared to get into our car and drive home.
We had a really good time visiting Tony and Marianne. East Wemyss is a delightful place, with a wealth of paths to keep a walker entertained. We arrived at lunchtime on Monday, and by the time that we left after lunch today (Wednesday), we had had four excellent walks, and I had taken nearly 200 photographs. My plan is to put a some of them in themed galleries of holiday pictures into posts over the next few days rather than throw them all in in a great heap.
The first of today’s galleries shows some of the sea birds that we saw, not great pictures as I didn’t have my bird camera with me, but they give an idea of the rich bird life in the area.
The second gallery is a glimpse of the buildings in the village of Pittenweem, situated in the East Neuk of Fife, 16 miles along the coast from East Wemyss.
The third and last gallery shows shots of the harbour at Pittenweem, where we had a stroll after we had eaten the excellent fish suppers obtained from the local fish and chip shop. It was a very calm evening.
Our drive home today went without incident, and once again we stopped at ASDA in Galashiels where we topped up the car with a few free miles while we had a coffee and a bun and did some shopping to provide us with food to eat when we got home. We could easily have driven the 106 miles without topping up the battery, and it was very pleasing to find that we had been able to drive about 250 miles over our little holiday, finding working and available charge points without any worry about running out of juice.
Future posts will contain East Wemyss village pictures, wild flowers, country views, and caves and cave art seen on our walks.
The weather and traffic were very kind to us on our drive home, and it was still a lovely day when we got back to Langholm.
In the garden the red azalea is in full bloom . . .
. . . the Japanese azalea is ready to join it . . .
. . . and a lot of the tulips are still looking pretty good.
I filled the bird feeder, and before any small birds could start tucking in, a sparrowhawk arrived and looked round wondering where all the birds were.
The sparrowhawk left and the little birds arrived . . .
. . . and it was good to see them again.
Although we were royally entertained at East Wemyss, and it is a great place to visit, it is also good to be back home again. We had some excellent walking in Fife, and now I hope to be back on my bike as soon as possible.
The flying bird of the day is a very upright goldfinch.
Tootlepedal's Blog 
Glad you enjoyed your little holiday/ family get together.
East Wemyys does indeed look a lovely area..hills and mountains are great but there’s something about being the coast,and those picturesque harbours.
My brother and his wife are visiting us this weekend from California after the COVID enforced travel ban of nearly three years.
Your little electric car performs very well..I’m changing my old rav4 diesel soon and will give the e-car serious consideration.
That sparrow hawk looks a fearsome predator close up.
It is good that families are meeting up again. We really enjoyed our visit. Apart from any other consideration e-cars are wonderful to drive.
Really nice picture of the three of you! Excellent news about being able to charge your car. And what a pretty place you have.
It looks its best on a sunny evening.
I also liked the picture of the three of you. Its lovely to have adventures and equally lovely to be back home again…life is good 😁
That is true . . . and the older you get, the better home feels.
I’d love to spend some time at the seashore. It always seems beautiful no matter what shore you stand on. Too bad the sun wouldn’t shine for you though.
I like the shot of the rape fields. It looks like they were painted into the landscape.
The garden plants are doing well by the looks. I like the azalea.
We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t get a damaging late frost this year. Last year all the azaleas were hit hard.
I hope that doesn’t happen.
I like the fishing towns and The sea birds a lot. Good camera work, Tom. 🙂
Thank you HJ
What an excellent photograph of the sparrowhawk!
It sat around wondering where all the small birds were for long enough to let me shoot it with my pocket camera from well inside the room. A very rare opportunity.
I don’t know where to begin, the views over the Forth were unbelievable, I loved the fishing village where you had your supper and your garden when you got home was so colourful, a great post.
Good galleries, including the birds. The sparrow hawk picture is special
It is a mixed pleasure to see the hawk but it is very photogenic.
Nice pictures of your time in East Wemyss. We do not have a sparrow hawk to shy away the small birds but a flock of monk parakeets who drive away all small birds and gobble up the sunflower seeds.
We are lucky in that we don’t generally have large birds who take the seeds away from the intended recipients.
A feast of fine fotographs!
I enjoyed the photos of your visit to East Wemyss. Isn’t it like the sun to emerge when one is one the way home? 🙂 Your gardens look beautiful, and it seems the sparrowhawk was keeping an eye on things, especially the small birds, while you were gone.
That is an interesting view of your house. I did not realize it is a long building.
It has been added to since it started life as the office building for a mill.
Wonderful photos in the galleries. Interesting building style of houses in Pittenweem…must be a history there! After all the great seabird photos your garden sparrowhawk topped the lot! Family photos are always the best!
Pittenweem was falling into disrepair and neglect before the National Trust decided to restore the harbourside houses in the sixties. It has not looked back since.
Good for the NT. It all looks really lovely and interesting another place to add to a wish list visit!
Quite the evil eye that sparrowhawk has!
But handsome.