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Helen Rose’s Outdoor Diary – St Andrews from Kingsbarns

November 2024

The Glasgow Health Culture Rambling Club arranged a coach to allow a linear walk from Kingsbarns to St. Andrews on the Fife Coastal Path. Kingsbarns is a village and parish in Scotland near the eastern coast of Fife in an area known as the East Neuk, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) southeast of St Andrews and 3.6 miles (5.8 km) north of Crail. The name derives from the area being the location of the barns used to store grain before being transported to the Palace at Falkland.

These towns and villages are part of the Fife Coastal Path and this was a new section for me. There was an outdoor sauna at the start of the walk converted from a horse box adjacent to the sea.

Fife Coastal Trail

I previously wrote on the Fife Coastal Path last year when the club organised a coach for the walk from Elie to Anstruther. I love the East Neuk of Fife. I still have other sections to complete from St Andrews to Wormit Bay and Newport. https:Walks – Walks Fife Coastal Path

North Sea

It was a perfect day with wall to wall sunshine and a slight sea breeze. This was the North Sea and it is the first time I have seen it looking blue! There were people on the beach enjoying the weather.

The coastal path was good and a mixture of a path on the dunes and also some walking on the sand. At the side of the path, we came across an impromptu driftwood sculpture. I like the way it captured the representation of the sea and waves.

Buddo Rock

By lunchtime we had reached Buddo Rock adjacent to the sea and a fine point to have our picnic lunches. It is a remarkable lump of sandstone between the cliffs and the shore about 20 metres in length, and rising sheer all round to a height of about 15 metres. Buddo is a local surname, first recorded in 1568 (Thomas Buddo). The name appears to be of local origin from Buddo (Ness) in the parish of St Andrews. However, it may be that the place has been named after a member of this local family.

There is a cleft in the rock to climb up inside butI was having a lazy lunch and did not climb the steps for the view.

Boarhill Cottages

As there was a danger in the tide coming in and difficult rocks to scale, some of us opted to continue walking inland to catch the bus to St Andrews. On the way we passed some cottages previously used by farm workers as this is an agricultural area. They had the red post-box built in to a wall rather than free standing..

Golf

St Andrews is the home of golf and renowned worldwide. The St Andrews Golf Club was established by 11 local tradesmen on 29 September 1843 as the St Andrews Mechanics Golf Club. While the modern game of golf originated in 15th century Scotland, the game’s ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball.

St Andrews University

Founded in the 15th century, St Andrews was Scotland’s first university and the third oldest in the English speaking world. Teaching began in the community of St Andrews in 1410, and the University was formally constituted by the issue of a papal bull in 1413. St Salvator’s College was founded in 1450 by the Bishop of St Andrews and King James the Second of Scotland provided an endowment at the college’s foundation. This allowed the training of ten students.

Several of the original medieval buildings survive, including the college chapel, tower, tenement building (adjoining to the west of tower, actually older than the adjoining tower, but much restored) and the Hebdomadar’s building.

On graduation day, the graduands parade on the harbour wall in their red academic robes.

St Andrews Cathedral

St Andrews is a town steeped in history. The Cathedral of St Andrews (often referred to as St Andrews Cathedral) is a ruined cathedral in St Andrews. It was built in 1158 and became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland as the seat of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and the Bishops and Archbishops of St Andrews. At the Reformation in 1559, John Knox preached a fiery sermon in St Andrews parish church, and the cathedral was ‘cleansed’ as a result. In 1561, it was abandoned and replaced by the parish church as the chief place of worship. St Rule’s was then left to fall into ruins. St Rules was the tower on the site of the religious buildings.

Blackfriars Dominican Chapel

We walked on through the town to Blackfriars Dominican Chapel where we were to meet our coach for the journey home. Blackfriars Dominican Chapel is a tranquil ruin amid the bustle of a busy street. Blackfriars Chapel is a rare remnant of the many Dominican friaries built across Scotland during the Middle Ages and was built in the 1520s as an addition to the church of the Dominican Friars, built about 10 years earlier .It didn’t last long, though as in 1559, Protestant reformers ‘violently expelled’ the friars ‘from their destroyed place’. Soon this chapel was all that remained of the friary. It now stands on a busy street in St Andrews.

Most people remember St Andrews as the place where the Prince and Princess of Wales met while attending the University there. There is a lot more history in the town dating back to Medieval times and it is well worth spending time there. We were fortunate to have Anne as our historical guide as she had spent holidays there. A big thank you to Ann for arranging the coach and leading the coastal path walk. Not completing the walk gave me time to see around the historical parts of St Andrews.

Many thanks to Ann for organising the bus and walk and to Anne for the conducted tour of St Andrews.

Coming attractions, Edinburgh, the Huelva Province in Spain and Grantown on Spey.

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