Stirling to Dunferline

July 14, 2025

Cycling gives you so many opportunities to look at staying in places that would not normally show up on any tourist itinerary, and so it was with Dunferline, our destination of the day. We could have ridden directly to Edinburgh but when I saw what Dunferline had to offer, decided it was worth a night.

It was hard start to the day: (1) it had been a hot night so we slept fitfully: (2) Dave worked on the journal first thing before I was up and the slow internet caused him to lose a bunch of journal edits; (3) lousy hot water in the tub; (4) the forecast was for rain all day to Dunferline; (5) the hotel only served breakfast until 9 am on Mondays so we had to be down for breakfast earlier than our usual hour (9 am) and; (6) because it was Monday the breakfast was out of a few items such as yoghurt, Dave’s usual morning fare. A whole bunch of things to be cranky about!

It started to rain hard at 9 am and we were all a bit glum a we kitted out in our stormy weather gear.

Dave gave this hotel a C+, which means it was pretty lame: lousy internet, warm room with no fans on offer, noisy hallways, very indifferent service, poor hot water. On the other hand, easy bike storage in a room with outlets, good bar with a good tv to watch Wimbledon, and very good pub far where we ate dinner twice. And so it goes.

Gosh, don't I look excited to be getting on the road? I confess to be cranky that morning. Things just weren't going well for us.

We took off about 11 am because it was a short day. It rained steadily as we rode out of Stirling, which was pretty busy. Rain stopped pretty quickly however and the route was excellent.

Although gloomy, the rain was relenting making the ride more pleasant.

Halfway through we came upon a bike trail and rode 17 km on the Clackmannanshire trail without a stop except for meeting one cycle touring couple at a gate. We never got their names or a pic but we had a very nice visit and the fellow was amazed when I said we hadn’t seen one midge the whole time, midges being the scourge of Scottish cycling. Maybe the myth of midges is just a way to keep people away from a destination we have really enjoyed.

The trail was in excellent condition and long and straight.

Oh, and there was the occasional obstacle to negotiate.

We peeled into Dunferline a little after 1 pm and found the Dunferline Library and Museum after a few odd alleys (or “closes” in Scottish) compliments of Komoot’s occasional weirdness.

I realized when I was mapping our route that Dunferline could be an interesting stop. It’s the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie and there was both a Museum at his home and the Dunferline Carnegie Museum and Library. Dunferline was also a former Royal Residence so it has a fair bit of medieval history to boot. After discussion with Eric and Melinda we decided that our top pick for an afternoon of sightseeing was the Dunferline Library and Museum.

We pulled up just as it was starting to spit and started to park our bikes under cover (no sign of formal parking) when a gent (who we later learned worked at the Library) called out us that we couldn’t park where we were looking. He was a bit abrupt when he said it, but as things turned out, and as you'll soon see, he was a lovely man. We worked out an appropriate place (next to some benches) and then had to make the decision on whether to haul our panniers inside for the couple of hours we would be inside. We have felt hugely safe in Scotland, more so than in Europe, and after some consideration, decided to leave our panniers with the bikes - although I pulled out my daypack (always packed with tablet, headphones, charging cords and prescription meds) and carried it with me.

Andrew Carnegie, as is the case for many of these robber baron dudes, was a complicated man. Eric had watched a History Channel special on him and remembered some of his less positive traits (strike breaker, draft dodger). But the Dunferline Musuem clearly wasn’t focused on that stuff. Carnegie started a program to fund free libraries all over the world and it had a very significant impact on many places. In 1883 the first library to open with his funding was the Dunferline Library (in his birthplace) and the iteration we saw today was the updated version. Several additions have been added to the original library. Carnegie’s funding of libraries added 2500 libraries in the US, England, Wales, Scotland, New Zealand, and Australia. The Museum outlined his process and the development of the program.

In addition to housing the library, the building has a nice little museum, here tracing Dunferline's history.

When I was a kid I loved the school and public library. They were my safe spaces, as I loved to read (still do). I even went through a period where I thought I would study to be a librarian. Caring about libraries speaks to me.

The Museum had an exhibit about Dunferline and its royal medieval past up to the present. In the 1800s Dunferline was prosperous due to weaving and linen production. This prosperity came to a halt during the First World War, where the necessity of quick production of fabrics eclipsed the more refined and expensive materials Dunferline specialized in.

Dunferline feels a bit down and out. Indeed we stayed downtown and while the downtown was busy during the afternoon, it felt deserted in the evening.

Later on, the gent that directed our bike parking, John, came upon us and we started visiting. It turned out he was the facilities manager and had been in the Royal Navy for his career so he had traveled all over the world. He recounted some fun times he and his wife had enjoyed visiting the American west (California, Arizona). He then proceeded to open some rooms of the Old Library for us that are no longer open for public viewing! He was very proud of the Library and Museum.

John, acting as docent, gave us a backstage tour.

The LIbrary was right next to the Dunferline Abbey and we caught some great views of it and the well-tended gardens.

Afterwards we checked into the City Hotel, right downtown. This had been a flyer. It was very cheap (99 pounds) but I chose it because the other options were a bit out of town and I wanted a choice that would make it convenient to visit the LIbrary. It was an old but decent hotel, but Murphy’s Law being what it is, we got the room at the very end of a long and squirmy hallway on the second floor. We are pretty sure the second floor was designed to be servant’s quarters, because the stairway was narrow and steep and contrasted to the wider more luxurious stairway from 0 to the First Floor. Our room turned out to be the attic garret, which doesn't sound great, but Dave was able to open two sets of windows so the room turned out to be be fine - except for the risk of bashing his head on the sloping roof on his side of the bed.

Negotiating the upper floor's narrow corridor.

Extra caution needed whenever I had to get up from the bed.

We ate that evening at Fabric, an Asian inspired restaurant that turned out to be great. Irving ran a one-man show (bartender, server, busboy, host) and after the rest of the sparse Monday evening crowd cleared out, we had quite a long visit. He grew up in Kirkcaldy - a place we had stayed almost three weeks ago on our way to St. Andrews.

Irving at Fabric - thanks for such a nice evening.

We are winding down our time with Eric and Melinda, feeling a bit sad!

Today's ride: 34 km (21 miles)
Total: 2,709 km (1,682 miles)

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Jacquie GaudetCarnegie built libraries in Canada too, 125 of them according to Wikipedia. Some are still operating as libraries.
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