On a weeks' annual leave and with this being Valentine's Day we decided to go to Anstruther for a
fish-supper at The Anstruther Fish Bar. It had been dull
all day and driving the 45 or so miles out from Cairneyhill to the East Neuk was no different. Sometimes we get all 4 seasons in a day, unfortunately today wasn't one of them. I had packed my camera gear more in hope really. Instead of going directly to Anstruther we stopped off at Pittenweem and parked on the sea front at the
far end of the harbour overlooking the Firth of Forth. The sky was getting darker as day turned into night without any form of sunset at all.
Pittenweem is a commercial fishing port, the busiest and liveliest in
the East Neuk, and a number of the boats were on their way back into port. You could see their lights out at sea. Grabbing my camera pack and tripod I went for
a wander around the harbour in the fading light which I always tend to do when I visit. I ended up on the harbour wall which leads onto the long pier / breakwater
which protects the harbours narrow entrance. Two or three boats chugged passed into the harbour and I was so pre-occupied with watching them that I nearly didn't notice the change going on with the sky.
The
dull dark grey of the oncoming night was breaking up from the west to reveal a sky already full of the colours of the setting sun. It was as if someone had opened the curtains on the sky and it was completely unexpected. Straight into action to get my camera onto the tripod. At least I was in a great spot on the pier at the harbour entrance. The light levels were already pretty low. I didn't need any filters, just a quick check of ISO and aperture and I was hitting the 2 sec. shutter release. I spent about 10 minutes at the harbour entrance before moving back along the harbour walls towards The Gyles.
Just before 6pm there was another change as the whole sky turned a deep crimson red, as if the sun didn't want to let go. It was just incredible! I don't think I had even seen colour like that. Walking back to the car the twilight,
or ‘gloaming’ light as it is referred to in Scotland, started to fade into darkness. An hour earlier you would not have believed this was going to happen. Christine was waiting for me in the 'Larachmhor', opposite the harbourmaster's office, when I finally put my camera away. She had seen it too. What struck me was that there were very few people about at all. I had been the only one at the harbour with a camera so I probably had some unique shots.
And then it was on to Anstruther for our tea from the award winning fish bar. No queue's this time as it was mid-week. The best sunset over Fife between the winter solstice and
the vernal equinox. Quite amazing to
witness and all because it was Valentine’s Day and our desire to grab a fish
supper in the Neuk instead of going to a local pub for dinner.
Satellite map of Pittenweem below:
