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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Kevin Rushby

Castaway in Fife: exploring Robinson Crusoe country in east Scotland

Cricket on the beach at Elie
Cricket on the beach outside the Ship Inn at Elie. Photograph: Jim Monk/Alamy

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 …”

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