The Fife Coastal Path - Kingsbarns to St Andrews

Jan 4

4 min read

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Distance - 8.5 miles (13.5km)

Estimated Time - 3 - 4 hours

Parking - paid parking at Kingsbarns beach

Travel - the 95 stagecoach service connects you along this route

Route - Fife Coastal Path 9: Kingsbarns to St Andrews

A lovely scenic section of the Fife Coastal Path passing some iconic rock formations such as Buddo Rock and the Rock and Spindle. Varying terrain from rocky scrambling, woodland dens and long sandy beaches.

** Please note - there are parts of the coastal path that would be impassable at high tide, so check this before you go

You will start off your journey from the Kingsbarns carpark (a short walk from the bus stop in town) which costs £2 per day. If you are feeling peckish you can start off with a wee visit to Harbour Burgers who do tasty loaded fries, burgers and hot dogs.

Kingsbarns is a beautiful starting point with a long stunning beach with golden sands. Take the path past the bird watching hut and make your way along by the golf course and onto the narrow path down onto the shore. Walking on the shore always slows me down when walking as I end up looking for rocks & shells. After you pass the ruined fisherman's cottage at Babbet Ness, the path continues towards Boarhills through a wooded den and alongside the Kenly Burn, I enjoyed this part as it gave a nice variety from the beaches and coastal paths. In the den you will come across the ruins of Hillhead Mill, the way that nature has taken it back and it is now overgrown with ivy and plants creates a mysterious atmosphere, which very much reminded me of A Secret Garden. You can explore here but with great care as the ruins can be unstable. Continue by crossing a wee bridge over the burn, passing the farmhouse and through the fields back towards the shore.

On your journey back towards the shore Buddo Rock will come into view - a distinct sandstone rock formation standing tall with the North Sea as a backdrop. Buddo Rock is popular with climbers, photographers and wildlife spotters. There is a path leading up the middle of the rock where you can climb up on top of it - but please be careful. Shortly after Buddo Rock, as the trail continues, if you look carefully you may be able to spot a faint path in the grass. This will lead you to a secret underground bunker from World War 2 - Boarhills Bunker. This has two pillboxes connected by an underground tunnels - if you do plan to explore this, I would recommend a head torch.

From here the path continues on and becomes a little more strenuous than previous parts with lots of stairs up and then right back down again - but it was good to get the heart pumping and blood flowing 😅. It is shortly after this point that if the tide was high it would be impossible to pass and you would have to wait until the tide is on the way out again. There is some gentle scrambling on the rocks here but nothing extreme.

The next iconic rock formation that you will encounter is the Rock and spindle - the remains of a volcanic vent that was part of volcanic activity around 290-300 millions years ago. The rock is a sea stack made of basalt that stands tall, whilst the spindle has wheel like basalt columns at the base. And since nobody else will say it, I will... it also looks suspiciously phallic like earning it the nickname of "the geological willy" from locals.

Soon you will pass the caravan park and spot the tall buildings of St Andrews in the distance. Come rain or shine East Sands beach will likely still be quite busy, when I arrived there was a hive of activity even although it was cold and rainy with people dog-walking, playing football and having beach fires. It really does give off a lovely atmosphere of people enjoying the outdoors. I was pretty peckish when I reached this point and spotted Caffe Bomboloni a cute little café with wooden huts complete with fairy lights looking out onto the beach. The smell of fresh donuts lured me in, so I stopped and devoured 8 mini donuts covered with nutella and coconut sprinkles. The route continues along beside the beach and into the harbour before ascending up the hill and into St Andrews town, you will see the ruins of St Andrews cathedral and model cannons replicating where they would have been stationed back in the day.

*Fun fact - the pier that protects St Andrews harbour that you just walked past is built from stones taken from the ruins of the cathedral. I'd recommend giving yourself some time here to explore the town and historic sites of St Andrews.