Leven to Lower Largo – The Promenade, a Park and the Links
About 3.4 miles on foot.
This is a one-way walk along Largo Bay, from the promenade at Leven to the harbour at Lower Largo.
It keeps a little inland of the sand, so it can be walked at any state of the tide, and it passes through Silverburn Park on the way. It is 5.4 km and easy, and a bus brings you back.
- Time
- About an hour and a half one way: 5.4 km (about three and a half miles), graded easy, mostly on gravel.
- The path
- Gravel for much of the way, with a sandy path and a track across the links. Not advised for wheelchairs; the main road between the two places has a pavement all the way.
- Where to start
- Start in Leven at the railway station, the bus station or the swimming pool, which stand close together. A large car park faces the promenade where the walk joins it.
- When to go
- All year: the route keeps off the sand, so the tide does not matter. From mid October to March it is exposed to the wind off the bay, and the gravel and the sandy path are wet after rain.
- Dogs
- On a short lead across the golf courses.
- Children
- Easy and level, with the beach beside the first stretch. Watch for golf balls on the links.
- Toilets
- At Silverburn Park, about halfway.
- Before you set out
- The walk crosses golf courses: keep to the path, stay off the greens and let players take their shots.
The walk
The walk sets out along Leven's promenade, with a long sandy beach beside you and the rounded top of Largo Law ahead. Oystercatchers, redshanks and curlews feed along the tideline, and on a clear day the Bass Rock shows across the Firth of Forth. It then leaves the shore for the Scoonie Burn and an old railway line, crosses a golf course and comes into Silverburn Park.
This wooded park has gardens to wander in, and refreshments and toilets. Beyond the park a sandy path and a track cross the links to the village of Lundin Links. From there the road drops to Lower Largo, and the walk ends by the harbour, near the Crusoe Hotel.
It is 5.4 km one way, about three and a half miles, and takes an hour and a half. Much of it is gravel, so wear good shoes, and on the golf courses keep to the path and wait for players to take their shots. The 95 bus runs back to Leven about once an hour.
If it rains
There is no shelter on the promenade or the links, and the wind comes straight off the bay. Silverburn Park, halfway, has trees and somewhere to sit inside.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.
Photograph by roberto gissepi via Google