Tag: walk

I have to admit to rather dreading this section of the Coastal Path. I have walked it before, and compared to some of the East Neuk stretches, it is busy, noisy, and not as stunning. However, it is required and so I chose to walk it before it got too late into the summer and harvest season. The last time I walked this route, it was August and there were 1 million harvest flies, several tractors stirring up dust, and enough pollen to defeat any anti-histamine.

Golf enthusiasts will want to take a short detour here to go closer to the course, which here is the 17th Green of the famous St Andrews Old Course. Views looking back to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the 18th Green and the Hamilton Grand are stunning. You can tell that one of these pictures was taken several years ago when we had more rain than we have had this spring….

The official route of the coastal path leads here along Station Road to the left. The first buildings passed are the spa and the impressive Old Course Hotel, where most celebrities and famous golfers stay when they visit St Andrews (unless they rent a house of course). The menus are impressive and restaurants are beautiful, and they offer high tea with some of the best views in town, looking over the golf courses and beach.

Beyond the hotel is the driving range, and across the road are a series of sports fields, which on the morning I walked were busy with Saturday football (soccer) games. This stretch of road is always lined with parked vehicles, both parents going to games and the luxury coaches of the golf tour operators. At the far end, the path crosses the road to the driving range, and continues off along to the right.

I took a quick detour to get a picture by the town sign before heading back to the path. The signs here are evidence of just how busy this stretch of path is – cyclists, often in groups, take advantage of the pavement while walkers and runners are regular users. I deviated from my normal no-earphones walking pattern, but I was careful to always look around before moving from one side of the path to the other.

The first mile of this walk is quite pleasant, with trees for shade dotted along and the potential for lovely flowers – some roses, lots of yellow gorse and white flowering bushes. There are several breaks in the foliage for vehicle access, and the first one is very close to Balgove Larder, an upmarket farm shop that sells local produce, bread, cheese, meat, beer and liquor, and much more. It has a great café and a steak barn that is hugely popular.

Along the right-hand side of the path is a large hedgerow, separating the coastal path from the Balgove and Strathtyrum Golf Courses. Periodic breaks in the hedgerow offer good glimpses of the fairways.

Then, about a mile and a quarter outside of town, the golf course abruptly stops, and the right-hand side of the path opens up to wide fields, those I am so eager to avoid later in the year. A hedge on the left continues to separate the coastal path from the busy A91. A short while longer – I confess I forgot to mark how much further, but probably 5-10 minutes walking – and the hedgerow disappears, replaced by only a stone wall separating walkers from the road.

While you can turn to look back at the town at several points along this path, I confess this is the part I like the least. It is very noisy with constant traffic, and there is not a huge amount to see. At the point where you can feel the path rising slightly and curving around to the right, it is a good time to look back at the steeples of St Andrews, just visible over the tree line. When driving, this is an iconic view of town, and one that even now makes me feel, just a touch, as though I am coming home.

Then, about three miles from St Andrews, the stone wall separating the pavement from the road ends, and the Coastal Path becomes essentially what in the US we would refer to as a sidewalk, running along the road. The traffic on this road should be explained briefly in that this is the primary route into St Andrews from the north (Dundee), as well as traffic coming from further west in Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow, etc. Busses run along this road to Leuchars station every ten minutes, plus large coaches going to the bigger cities, tourist coaches, and plenty of commuter traffic. When something stops traffic on this road, it takes very little time to build up for miles in all directions, bringing movement even in St Andrews town centre to a halt.

This is also where the view across the fields becomes a bit more interesting, as you can see to Tentsmuir forest and get a good feel for just how big Leuchars Air Base is. Just past the turn-off for Kincaple, you can also start to get a good view straight ahead, with the distant Guardbridge mill buildings just visible, and the lump of Balmullo Law against the horizon. The Law stands out from any other hill by the obvious scar of the Balmullo quarry, a stark brown against the sky.

The path is quite narrow at a few points here, and you have to hope you don’t meet any cyclists, but as the road curves again towards Guardbridge, fields open up to the right along the estuary, along with a few groupings of houses. The hedgerow to the right has a few gaps to allow views across to the mill buildings, now run by Eden Mill, a local distillery.

As you approach the village limits, the hedge also vanishes and the path to widens a bit. You will note a beautifully-kept white guest house surrounded by fields in which horses frolic away (and also the occasional bold rabbit).

You know you are getting close when you pass Fast’n’Fresh across the road, a sandwich and refreshment spot that would be a good place for a break should you need one. A caveat though in that there is no pedestrian crossing, so you do have to make a bit of a run for it. You’ll also see the road up to Strathkinness here, and shortly after, the Guardbridge town marker.

At the crest of the hill at the edge of town, the Coastal Path breaks off from the main pavement and branches right, onto Old St Andrews road. There are some large rubbish and recycling skips here, a few tables, and signs for the Guardbridge Inn.

Both this bridge, the pylons in the Estuary, and the north bridge at the end of this walk are evidence of the former train line, and the required alternative bridges for road traffic. The bridge that pedestrians now cross on the Coastal Path is either or was once where there was a medieval bridge, build in the 1400s by Bishop Wardlaw of St Andrews.

At the bottom of the hill, just before the bridge, is the Guardbridge Inn, a fantastic place for dinner or just a few pints with friends. They offer tables out front as well as in a grassy area along the estuary at the back; this was one of the first places we enjoyed a drink after the pandemic lockdown, when we could all sit outside and enjoy the sun and social distancing. The chef is excellent and the building itself is lovely, though I am not sure of its age.

By all means, schedule a stop here if you can! Or, at the small coffee shop and antique store below, which I admit I have never frequented but about which I have heard good things.

Continuing on from the Inn, the coastal path crosses the old bridge, which I have always preferred at high tide, and which you can get an excellent feel of from the Inn, and from the far side of the bridge.

The bridges both end at the main Guardbridge roundabout – another popular spot to hold up traffic – which unfortunately you must cross at this point, heading for a break in houses on the far side of the road.

In theory at this point there are two paths through Guardbridge, one along the main road which allows you to get refreshment at Dan’s Goods (a small convenience store), detour through the park and even the University’s Eden Campus. But, the official Coastal Path takes a route behind the main residential section, with back gardens to the right and a hill leading up to the left. Once you cross at the roundabout, follow the signs between the houses, and then cross the small parking area to another gap between gardens. Here the path is again beneath the trees – a relief after a sunny stretch – following the former rail line; it is quite well-marked. On that hill stretching up to the left is the Seggie estate, which was a farm but is now a large housing estate that has been built over the past few years, adding several hundred homes to the village. For a longer walk, you could go up Cupar Road and walk through the estate, where there is a walking path through some tall trees allowing a view over the university campus and the estuary beyond.

About five minutes along the path, the houses disappear and there is a wide open space where a condemned rail storage building was torn down. It has been vacant for some time, and there is great supposition as to what might be constructed there.

On the other side of the road from here until the end of this stretch is the Eden Campus, which was built by the University of St Andrews in the late 2010s and opened for staff use at the end of the pandemic. When I first arrived in St Andrews many years ago, the buildings still housed Curtis Fine Paper. They were originally built in the 1870s as the Guardbridge Paper Company. The town grew up around the mill, which employed more than 600 people in the 1950s. Many of the original elements of the mill remain today including what were wide doors for horse-drawn wagons to enter, and the Guardbridge clock that overhangs – almost – the road. The University was careful to maintain as much of the original feel of the mill as they could when they built Eden Campus, which is a wide open-plan area with an industrial feel to it. They have won several awards for their success.

Seggie Drive joins the main road just across from the University, and from here on the path is raised slightly away from the road, which is considerably safer. Again, though the speed limit is 30 MPH here, traffic is often moving quickly around an almost blind corner.