Walk of the week: Blairenbathie Mine Trail, Fife

YOU don’t need much to escape. I had heard about the site of an old Fife coal mine which was a good place for a walk. Not likely, I thought, but inquisitiveness got the better of me and the next thing I knew I was in a wood just outside Kelty.

Coal mining began around here as far back as the 13th century but it wasn’t until the 19th and start of the 20th that things were really booming.

The walk actually passes the site of two former mines - one from the 18th century, when the land was part of an estate owned by Sir William Adam and the arch on a small stone bridge crossed during the walk is definitely in his style. The other colliery closed in the 1960s but in reality there is little evidence of the industrial past.

The Forestry Commission have now taken over the land and there is a surprising amount of mixed woodland. In fact, for most of the walk, you would be forgiven for thinking it had been here for centuries. Birdsong fills the air and flowers carpet the floor.

One drawback is that the route is only two and a half miles but the good paths do make this a great walk for young children, with plenty of wooden benches for a picnic.

DISTANCE 2½ miles.

HEIGHT CLIMBED 200ft.

TIME 1 to 1½ hours.

MAP OS Landranger 58.

PARKING Leave the M90 at junction 4 and go west (left) on the B914. After a third of a mile turn right, at a Forestry Commission sign for Blairadam. Follow a drive for about half a mile to a car park next to a Forestry Commission depot (Clentry car park).

IN SUMMARY Head to the end of the car park and follow a forestry track. Ignore a track going right then go left at a totem pole (built by First Nation Canadian artists and Kelty residents), on to a wide, surfaced path.

Follow this until it joins a track coming in from the right. Ignore a path on the right, then a left turning to follow the track straight ahead. A shorter walk goes off to the right - following red markers - but this route goes ahead for a little more - following yellow markers. Take a path branching off to the right and a little further on ignore a path on the right. The path drops over the Lochornie Burn bridge and bears right before going uphill, becoming more of a track for a while - ignore turnings to the left - before bearing right again. The path goes up a little then drops down through mixed woodland, eventually reaching a forestry track, where you go right.

Drop down the track and at the bottom ignore turnings to the right. Shortly after this go through a metal gate and head uphill, ignoring turnings to either side. The track then bears right, passes the totem pole and returns to the car park.

REFRESHMENTS Your best bet is to head west to Dollar, where there is a wide choice.

WHILE IN THE AREA Head up the M90 to Kinross, where Historic Scotland runs boat trips across Loch Leven to the Castle.