Walk Fife Podcast 27 - Wildfires, Seaside Safety and Lochbagging

The Walk Fife Podcast - Exploring the Kingdom on Foot

The Kingdom of Fife is buzzing with people hitting the hills and coast taking advantage of the good weather.

Sean takes shelter from the sun to record episode 27 of the Walk Fife Podcast.

In this episode we cover fire, hidden dangers along the fife coast, chat a bit about the walk fife workshops and we will announce the winner of our competition to win a Suunto A30 compass and a OS Explorer map bundle.

Wildfires hit Fife

Many people from the Fife walking community got in touch with us during the past week to let us know about the spate of wild fires breaking out in various locations across Fife and the highland areas of Scotland.

The one that alarmed most Walk Fifers was a gorse fire that broke out on East Lomond Hill near the village of Falkland. Firefighters from Auchtermuchty and Glenrothes fire station used beaters and water backpacks to tackle the fire and were on the hill for around 4 hours until they were sure that the fire was fully extinguished.

The recent dry weather has heightened the risk of outdoor fires in areas of grass, woodland and gorse and the Fire Service is urging communities, tourists and visitors to be aware of the increased risk of wildfire at this time and make sure that they act responsibly the countryside. Walkers can help prevent wildfires by making sure they dispose of litter and smoking materials carefully while in rural areas.

Seaside safety

During the warm weather most of you will be heading to one of the many beaches along the Fife coast. Although it's a fun day out it can be dangerous and lots of people get into trouble every year along the Fife Coast. The RNLI have asked us to share the following safety advice with listeners

* Visit beaches that have lifeguards patrolling them
* If you go swimming, stay between the red and yellow flags as these are the safest areas.
* Be careful of strong currents, you might not be able to see them but these fast moving areas of water can pull you out to sea.
* We all love exploring rock pools, but make sure you keep an eye on the tide, it can come in faster than you think and leave you cut off.
* Watch out for waves - they may be fun to play in but they can also be very dangerous.
* If in the water, make sure you stay where people can see you and don't get out of your depth.

Workshops

Next week we will be opening our next workshop for requests. The “Beginners Guide to Using GPS Smartphone Apps” workshop will take place in both the classroom and outside and will run participants through the use of smartphone GPS apps. The apps featured in this workshop Viewranger and OS Maps. Participants are encouraged to have these apps installed on their device prior to attending the workshop. There are only 16 places available on this workshop abut it will be run again later this year. Email your questions to [e-mail]

Competition

The winner and runner-ups have been drawn for our competition to win a Suunto A30 compass and three OS Explorer maps covering fife. The question was this - What is the name of the path the links Lochore Meadows with Loch Leven? - and the answer of course is The Sleeping Giant Pathway. So the lucky winner is Julie Cambridge and the runners-up each of whom receive a Walk Fife t-shirt of their choice are - John Patterson, Kerry Savage and Simone Steadman.

Sean also ran a competition to win a Walk Fife t-shirt on his twitter account in connection to my 4000 Mile Walking challenge. The winner was the first person to dm with the number of blister which end ended up with after a 20 mile walk and the person who correctly guessed 1 blister was Kevin Wright.

Lochbagging

John Crawford recently got in touch with Walk Fife to let us know about an activity that has really caught the imagination of Sean and the Walk Fife team. Lochbagging allows walkers to explore Scotland’s fresh water lochs and lochans and log them as they go. John has brought together a collection of lochs to bag that can be found in the Kingdom called the “Archies” and you can find out more by visiting his website - see link below.

Listener Questions

The questions sent by listeners for this episode include one about the radiation warning signs in Dalgety Bay and why fizzy drinks are a bad idea for the walker.

Get in touch

If you have any suggestions for future episodes of the Walk Fife podcast then please get in touch with us through our website or you can even drop us a line through Twitter or Facebook. Please email us at [e-mail]

Show Links

RNLI Beach Safety Advice - https://rnli.org/safety/beach-safety/beach-safety-advice
Walk Fife Workshops - http://www.walkfife.com/workshops/
The Sleeping Giant Pathway - http://www.walkfife.com/maps-routes/two-lochs-wander-the-sleeping-giant-pathway/
Lochbagging - https://sites.google.com/view/lochbagging/home