Castaway in Fife: exploring Robinson Crusoe country in east Scotland
The Fife coastal path connects the firths of Forth and Tay and takes in some of the country’s finest seaside villages, seascapes and the home of a famous literary castaway
Standing in a Scottish seaside village, I am confronted by two smart red doors and a curious figure standing in a niche above them: a man, one hand clutching a staff, the other shading his eyes as he gazes out to sea. There’s a flintlock pistol in his belt and he’s dressed in tattered rags. Is it a tribute to locals who survived a night out in Kirkcaldy? No, there is a weathered plaque that I can just read: “In memory of Alexander Selkirk, mariner, the original of Robinson Crusoe …”
This is the site of a cottage where Selkirk was born in 1676. And suddenly a long-forgotten melody starts to play in my head, a sweeping lyrical tune that I haven’t heard in half a century. It’s shocking to discover what treasure lies forgotten between my ears, this being the theme from The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, a German television series that was aired in the UK at the time of the Apollo 11 moon landings (and repeatedly until 1982). From the moment I saw it, I gave up plans to be an astronaut and decided to travel the world instead.
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