Nationals 2010 Countdown - Getting There

Getting to Largo Bay from any were reasonably south you are looking to get onto the M6 then the M74 heading north to Glasgow. This is generally slightly quicker than going up the east coast, of course if you are stopping off in Sunderland, then ignore the next paragraph.

Having got yourself to Gretna and the gateway to Scotland, you can now get settled on the M74 heading North and enjoy the breathtaking scenery and the surprising lack of cars on a three lane motorway. Follow the signs up to Glasgow, as you get into Glasgow you should start seeing signs for Edinburgh M8 follow this for a while and when you are approaching Edinburgh you should start seeing signs for the Forth Road Bridge. This will take you onto the M9 briefly and then onto a nice new section of motorway that links you to the A90.

If you are coming up from Sunderland, there are a few options, before you get to Edinburgh, there is the old favourite of the A1, which consist of sections of dual carriageway winding along the coast between speed cameras, the A697 via Coldstream which consists of sections of dual carriageway winding between speed cameras and hills. Then there is the A68 via Jedburgh which consists of sections of dual carriageway winding between speed cameras and some high moorland. There does not seem to be that much difference between the routes with different people preferring different directions.

The A1 will take you past North Berwick, and you could have another detour to say hello to the RS200's, and if you were feeling brave could launch your boat and sail north West till you get to Largo Bay. If you do decide to drive all the way watch out for the junction where the A1 turns into the A720, it is easy to miss and following the A1 leads you into the centre of Edinburgh, which should be avoided while towing.

All the routes will take you on to the A720 which should be followed round till you start seeing signs for the forth Road bridge, which you should follow You used to be charged £1 to cross the Fourth Road bridge, and admire the rail bridge, however just after they built a new set of toll booths, they decided to scrap the charge and knock them all down. You are now entering the Kingdom of Fife.

Note:- The Fourth Rail bridge could be described as the wayfarer of bridges it is totally overbuilt and despite being in continuous use for over 100 years is still in good condition, they have yet to replace a single rivet in the structure, although they have been painting it quite often. The road bridge on the other hand is probably the 420 it is only about 30 years old and a recent inspection has found serious corrosion in the cables which may mean some major repair work or possibly cable replacement. They recently installed a system that listens to the cables and can detect when individual wires break, from this they can predict the remaining life of the bridge. If you are towing a Finn you can always detour across the Kincardine Bridge, and help extend that life.

You should now be on the A90 heading North you need to take exit 2a signposted A92 Glenrothes/ Kirkcaldy follow this road for about 12 miles to Kirkcaldy (watch how you pronounce this if you want directions) There you should take the 3rd exit of a roundabout onto the A915 and there should be signposts to Leven initially and to Lundin Links a bit later on.

You are now approaching your destination. Go through Lundin links keeping on the A915, you may want to follow signposts to Lower Largo at this point but you should resist as this will take you down a very narrow road. What you should do is follow Largo Road past the Lundin Links hotel till you are almost through the village and then take a right turn down Durham Wynd. There should be some Largo Bay Sailing club signposts to help you through this section.

This will take you down a steep hill with the sea ahead of you. Ahead of you and slightly to the right is the sailing club but you need to turn left onto main street and towards the Temple. This road turns right then left taking you down to the foreshore. To your left is a large gravel car park which is a good staging post for parking and unloading your boat down to the beach.

Note:- The name Links in a description of a Golf course comes from the old word to describe a useless piece of sandy ground between the fields and the sea. The Links was never used for much except the drying of fishing nets till some board crofters started knocking balls of leather about with sticks, and so the game of Golf was born. The crofters spent so much time playing Golf that the Landed Gentry banned them from playing and took over the game for themselves.