Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Coastwalk , Fife Coastal Path

Kingsbarns → Leuchars

boarhills-doocot.jpg Distance: 14.11 miles
Ascent: 277 metres
Duration: 5 hours 4 minutes

The original golf course
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Mum has joined us for the rest of the week, so today we took things slightly slower.

A delightful feature towards the start of the walk was the wooded glen of the Kenly Water. Snowdrops carpeted the glade, easily beating what we saw of the Cambo Estate yesterday (which is famed for its snowdrop collection).

The path kissed the edge of the village of Boarhills and gave us the opportunity to examine a doocot (dovecot) up close. Seemingly every farm in Fife has a ruined dovecot: a small building two storeys high with a sloping roof. Inside the walls are lined with nesting boxes for the meat supply.

buddo-rock.jpgWe rejoined the coastline at Buddo Rock, another sandstone sculpture that put yesterday's caves at Cailpie to shame. Beyond the path got muddier and slipperier, with a number of climbs to the top of the cliffs. The geology remained fascinating, with plenty of stacks and isolated rock structures to look at, many of them named on the map such as the Rock and Spindle which to us looked more like a steam locomotive.

st-andrews.jpgEventually we reached St Andrews. Following the most coastal road meant we saw little of the town, instead passing by numerous college buildings before reaching the clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient.

Emma and I left Mum in a coffee shop in town while we zipped along the last five miles to Leuchars. The route we took was the surfaced cycle path that runs alongside the A91 and A919 through Guardbridge. The rain began to fall and the wind picked up once again, so there's not much to report.

eighteenth-tee.jpgAn alternative route would be to cross the Links. But since annoying golfers isn't our favourite pastime we stuck to the easy, fast option.

Posted by pab at 20:49 | Comments will be back one day. Please email me instead!