Fife Coastal Path - Kinshaldy - St Andrews

Here's the second part of the Coastal Path blog. More will follow, and I will get round to dropping in a few photos to leaven the mix - I promise!

This was a strange section - a wonderful destination in St Andrews, but a pretty mundane walk to get there. We left the car park in Kinshaldy, walking South along the wide sandy beach that started to become more stony as we neared the big Royal Air Force base at Leuchars. We should have gone inland at this point to walk around the perimeter of the base, but in the event walked round onto the mud of the River Eden estuary. We trudged on through this until we were able to climb up and walk along the side of a barley field into the centre of Guardbridge. This choice of route has nothing to commend it, and I would suggest that you avoid it - follow the proper route!

Guardbridge is a hard-working little town, with its papermill. It is not one of the great scenic wonders of Fife, although the ancient bridge over the River Eden, accompanied by the sad remnants of the abandoned railway bridge are perhaps the most interesting features of the town. The walk into St Andrews amplifies the low key nature of this section of the path - the indicated route runs alongside a busy major road, and the noise of traffic predominates. Eventually, the walk enters the "auld grey toon" with the Old Course Hotel being the first familiar building to be seen. Anyone who has ever watched televised golf will be familiar with this structure, which overshadows the notorious "Road Hole" - the seventeenth hole of the Old Course. When we made the walk, practice for the Women's British Open was in full swing, and the sight of a hare sprinting across the practice range as golf balls flew about it was a surprise amidst all the commercial hurly burly of the event. Soon we were in the town, surrounded by crowds of tourists.

This is not the greatest section of the walk. The walk around the airbase, through Guardbridge to St Andrews is prosaic at best. St Andrews, however, is a wonderful destination, and has much to offer the visitor whose interests do not include golf, as well as those who live and breathe for it. The Castle and the Abbey are justly famous, and South Street, a wide tree-lined expanse with elegant buildings is one of the finest townscapes in Europe. St Andrews is also a wonderful starting point - click here for a description of the exploits of some friends who cycled from here to Santiago de Compostela in Spain!

Our walk ended at the East Sands, just where the cliffs that are a feature of the next section, to Kingsbarns, begin to rise above St Andrews Bay.