St Fillan's Cave – Hot Chocolate, a Key and a Harbour
A few hours.
The route
Pittenweem is a working fishing village on the East Neuk coast, all red pantiles and steep little wynds running down to the harbour.
On its High Street, the Pittenweem Chocolate Company's Cocoa Tree Café makes its own chocolates and pours a thick, rich hot chocolate. It also keeps the key to St Fillan's Cave, the old saint's chapel cut into the rock below. Allow a morning for the café, the cave, the harbour and the old tidal pool by the car park.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The day
Pittenweem
A morning on foot in a fishing village: a hot chocolate first, then down the wynd with the key to the cave and out along the harbour.
About an hour and a halfAbout 1 mile on foot
Pittenweem Chocolate Company
A drink
Park at West Braes car park, at the west end of Pittenweem: the first two hours are free, then it's £2 for the day, by cash or card. From there it's an 8-minute walk to the Cocoa Tree Café on the High Street, open every day from 10am to 5pm, for hot chocolate, cake, waffles or a cocoa bean stew. Dogs are welcome at its discretion.
10 min on foot
St Fillan’s Cave
An attraction
The café keeps the key to St Fillan's Cave, for a small charge and a deposit you get back, and the cave is 2 minutes away, behind an iron gate in Cove Wynd, the lane that runs down to the harbour. The story goes that St Fillan, an Irish monk, lived here as a hermit, and that his arm glowed so he could write his sermons in the dark. Inside are a stone passage and a small chapel with an altar: the floor is uneven and can be wet, so mind your step. Return the key, then wander down to the harbour, where the fishing boats come in, and walk about 10 minutes back along the shore to the car. Below the West Braes car park is Pittenweem's tidal pool, over 130 years old, filled by the sea twice a day and reopened by the West Braes Project in 2021: bring a towel if you fancy a dip.
If it rains
A wet morning still works: the café is warm and the cave is under the rock, so only the 8-minute walk in and the harbour are out in it; skip the harbour if it's pouring.
Pittenweem Chocolate Company, a café in Pittenweem.
The Dory, Pittenweem, a restaurant in Pittenweem.