Day 9 - Touring the Coast of Fyfe

We are staying in St Andrews for two nights so we have a full day today to do some exploring. We consulted our Lonely Planet guide book and thought that a seaside drive through several nearby seaside villages would be an interesting way to spend the day. After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel we wandered down the street to watch the early morning golfers on the Old Course.

We hopped in the car and took the short drive to the village of Elie. We first parked near the "beach" area and watched folks enjoying the seaside activities. You will notice that a lot of people are wearing wetsuits. I stuck my hand and the water and can attest to the fact that that is a really good idea!

The harbour area is surrounded by some pretty stone buildings.

We found the local golf course

And the local sewage discharge, (hopefully just the street drainage).

Chris loved this young lad's hair.

Next village, St Monans was a few miles down the road. This is their version of San Francisco's "Painted Ladies".

This harbour was more of a small fishing village rather than a recreational harbour.

Another few miles and we were in Pittenweem. This harbour seemed to be more of a commercial fishing port with larger boats.

We did stop to sample some of the ice cream. OK but certainly not the best we have had.

I spoke with the fisherman and these local crabs are destined for Spain.

This looks like a good fix-er-upper. Could be had cheap and probably would have a PHRF of 400 which means you wouldn't have to leave the harbour to win!

From there, we made our way to Anstruther. it was the most crowded of all of the harbours and I'm not sure why. Could it be the fish & chips and ice cream? Why is the Heart and Stroke Foundation in between the ice cream shop and the fish & chip shop?

There was a mini carnival set up on the pier, flashback to the 50's!

I enjoyed looking in on the lifeboat station. Quite an interesting rescue boat and launching system which includes a tracked vehicle and trailer that can go underwater to launch the boat during low tide (tides are in excess of 3 m here).

Our last harbour of the day was Crail. Small protected and cute. Cobblestone streets. Very photogenic.

We got back to our hotel in St Andrews in the late afternoon and enjoyed the sunshine by sitting at a table on the sidewalk at our hotel/pub and relaxing with a cold beer and talking with some of the other patrons.

We walked a few blocks down the street for supper and then returned to our room for an early night before our trip to Stirling Castle tomorrow morning.