FARTS: The Virtual Walk

We are living through unprecedented times: never in Farts history have we been unable to execute a walk due to a pandemic. Why this fact is not broadcast on national news I don’t know! So, in an attempt to keep the wind in our faces, please enjoy this Virtual Walk from our home.

Fife has lots of history. Long ago, even before the Elder Farts, Fife was a very wet place. As the last Ice Age came to an end, large bodies of water were left in a landscape that would eventually be called Fife. The lochs were surrounded by forests and, in time, became popular as a hunting ground for royalty. The ‘Kingdome of Fife’ is a misnomer; it was never a kingdom, but often accommodated kings, queens and princes in their sport…

In more recent times many of the lochs, lakes and ponds were drained for agriculture; their memory lives on in the place-names. Letham, for example, refers to a ‘hamlet by a bog’. The bog in question was drained in the mid-20^th century, but for the last 10-years has recovered its ancient bogginess: a new habitat that wildlife quickly adopted

Around 1000-years ago monks had settled in Monimail, and soon after that a seedling Letham (a farm) was formed on the high, well drained, slope near Monimail.

Our walk will pass several places that have seen big changes throughout history, a history that was often guided by the desire to keep feet dry whilst feeding and defending the population: a history of painted people, religious rebellion and the struggle for Freedom.

Just before we started our walk, Julie wanted to close the greenhouse door, but we had an unexpected visitor. And this little chap provided a much better name than “Covid-19: The Walk”, or “The Lockdown Walk”. Therefore: