The new bolts on the Hawkcraig have been removed.

The bolts at the top-out to Pain Pillar were reported on UKC on Monday. They caused an uncontrolled outbreak of tabloid headlining, consternation, indifference and one of the daftest UKC forum threads for some time.

Between the morning of Monday 9th May and the evening of Thursday 12th person or persons currently unknown have taken them out. The bolts appear to have been removed rather than chopped at ground level, and the holes filled with loose soil and gravel. The much older bolt adjacent to them remains, though fresh marks on it suggest a brief attempt at removal.

As to who placed them, a Fife council employee told us:

'What I can confirm is that that the work was not done by either Fife Council or Fife Coast and Countryside Trust. And neither of us knows who did, but it certainly was done by some unofficial individual or group.'

So whodunnit?

Is this the end of the affair?