Pittenweem

High wind = Very short walk on Fife Coastal Path today

St. Fillan's cave

To enter the locked gate, you must collect the key at The Cocoa Tree.

If you attempt to do this with two boys, you may or may not be persuaded to just stop right there and sit down for a cup of the best hot chocolate ever!  I would recommend the white chocolate hot chocolate, but that is not the subject at hand.

The cave - Celtic monks travelled this way from Ireland or the continent, perhaps as early as the 7th century.  There is also evidence that pilgrims from Spain may have lived and died in this area.

  

     It is believed that in the early middle ages hermits inhabited the cave, and pilgrims conversed with them on their way to nearby St Andrews.   It was also used by smugglers for some time, as a store room for local fisherfolk (Pittenweem has been a fishing village since the time of early Christian settlement.   The cave was later used as a rubbish tip which probably resulted in its disappearance for some time. While ploughing in the area, a horse apparently fell down a hole which allowed the cave to be rediscovered. 

   This paragraph copied from:  http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/8141/name/St.+Fillan%27s+Cave+Pittenweem+Fife