It was such a treat this morning not to have to pack up our suitcases and arrange their transfer to the next destination. Staying three nights in the same place is a rare treat on a trek like this! Today we were headed for the renowned St. Andrews. We purposely planned for today’s walk to be a shorter one, because we planned to spend the rest of the day exploring St. Andrews.
First stop was just outside of Kingsbarns - the Wild Scottish Sauna on the beach. The path here is between the beach and the pastureland and it was a little challenging, more because the weeds and grasses covering the path made it hard to see where your feet were landing. We decided to move down onto the beach for better footing, but then that became too challenging so back up to the trail again. At one point this led us into a beautifully shaded forest, Kenly Water, with a little stream running through it. There are a lot of ups and downs on this section, much of it on stones set into the ground to serve as stairs. Hard on the old hips!
We passed by a number of interesting sites - a lectern shaped doocot, a rock formation called Buddo Rock, another rock formation called the Rock and Spindle. We had had to have an early start to the day so that we would be passing near the Rock and Spindle before high tide, or we might have been delayed waiting for the waters to recede. As it was we had plenty of time - even managed to stop and enjoy our packed lunch on the beach.
We headed in to St Andrews and stopped first at the remains of the 12th century Church of St. Mary on the Rock and then over to the Cathedral to marvel at the beautiful architecture and examine the many old gravestones on the site. After that, we sauntered over to St.Andrews University, which itself dates back to 1416. Again, beautiful architecture and a long history of providing a top-notch education to its students. A brief visit to the Wardlaw Museum, where we learned about some of the traditions of this prestigious institution, particularly related to the students’ activities. Down the road a bit further on, we took in the Castle from a distance, then headed back towards the area which is the golfers’ Mecca - St. Andrews Golf Club - The Old Course. We watched a couple of groups tee off from the first tee box, then wandered down to West Sands. This beach is most known for being the site of the slow-motion run along the beach to Vangelis’ music in “Chariots of Fire”. Thanks to a kind young man, we were able to capture a re-enactment of that scene starring the four of us!
Back over to the main part of town to check out the souvenir shops and suss out some dinner. At the suggestion of the young man at the Tourist Info, we ended up at the Criterion, where we all enjoyed their puff pastry pies in various yummy combinations. I was tickled to find that they served Thistly Cross cider, which I had tasted last time we were in Scotland and loved. As it happened we ended up sitting beside a foursome from Barrie who were here on a golf holiday.
Off to the bus depot to catch our ride back to Kingsbarns to plan our last day of walking. More laundry and then to bed!