The Fife Coastal Path - St Andrews to Newport
Jan 10
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Distance - 19 miles (30km)
Estimated Time - 6 - 8 hours
Parking - West Sands car park
Travel - the 95 stagecoach service connects you along this route
Route - Fife Coastal Path 10: St Andrews to Newport on Tay
A long stretch of the Fife Coastal Path - that starts off pretty uneventful, walking along by the road and through some towns but then leads on to some incredibly scenic sections across a boardwalk at Tayport heath and through Tentsmuir forest.
I started this one by getting the bus into St Andrews, but there is parking at West Sands (paid). If you have time on your side it is always worth a wee wander around St Andrews town. I also completely misjudged my timings on this section and I started pretty late mid winter, so I was in a bit of a rush trying to get as much done before the sun set. For context - I gave myself less than 4 hours of daylight when the walk is estimated to take 6-8 hours - oopsie 😅.
When you are leaving St Andrews, the first section takes you past the famous golf course - the old course with it's fancy hotel, you might find that this is pretty busy in the summer as it is a tourist hot spot. I deviated from the route slightly here (I'm going to pretend that it was on purpose 😅) and ended up walking directly through the golf course which you absolutely would not be able to do in the summer. This detour was quite nice as the actual path is alongside the road. To be honest, I personally found the first 3km of this route slightly boring, as the path continues to hug the road which doesn't give a very remote wilderness feeling. Although I was treated to two fighter jets flying over the Eden Estuary prior to them landing at Leuchars.
After what feels like forever walking a long stretch of road you will arrive in Guardbridge which is home to a historical 15th century bridge over the River Eden and a past resting stop for the pilgrimage to St Andrews. If you look carefully from the bridge you can often spot otters frolicking around in the river. The town is now home to The Guardbridge Inn pub, coffee shop and a banging taco stand in the industrial estate across the road - Box Tacos.
As I was approaching Leuchars Army Base I noticed quite a few plane spotters lined up outside the gates then to my surprise the two fighter jets that I had spotted earlier took off from the runway right above my head. This was really pretty special. After Leuchars the path becomes a lot more secluded and away from the roads which is much nicer, leading on to a boardwalk section to help you cross the bogs and marshes on the way to Tentsmuir Forest. Tentsmuir is gorgeous and worth a visit on its own accord - with long beaches, sandy dunes, dense woodland and extensive plants and wildlife. There is also Salt & Pine situated just off the car park who do delicious crepes. You should definitely spend some time here if you have the privilege of time being on your side, which I definitely did not as it was already starting to get dark and I was just about to head into the forest - I've seen the Blair Witch Project so I wasn't taking any chances and I was out to the other side of the woods as fast as I could be. The path through Tentsmuir takes you directly past the Ice House which was used back in the day to store ice from local lakes and to store salmon there before sending it elsewhere - I guess it was like a very early version of a fridge. Walking along the Tay side of Tentsmuir you will notice that all the trees that were once there have been felled and it is much more open walking alongside the dunes under the moonlight which was very welcomed (I also have to add that I forgot to pack a headtorch - terrible planning on my behalf).
*some of these pictures are taken on a different day just so you can see what Tentsmuir looks like when it's not dark
Thankfully the walk through Tayport provided me with plenty of street lights, through caravan park, along the seafront and into Tayport Harbour. By this time it was completely dark but it was nice to see the bright lights of the city of Dundee twinkling in the distance. As the path continues you can see the high lighthouse flashing. The rest of the path becomes a bit of a blur as there was no longer any street lights and it was dark and a bit scary especially running alongside the graveyard! But after a short while I made it to the Tay bridge car park where I am parked at the beginning of the day. I have never been more thankful to see the car.
A really good day but I wish I had given myself more time to enjoy the latter half of the walk. This took me just under 6 hours with a detour into Leuchars for the bathroom and some lunch.
Happy Adventuring
Sections of the Fife Coastal Path
1. Kincardine to North Queensferry
2. N Queensferry to Burntisland
3. Burntisland to East Wemyss
4. East Wemyss to Lower Largo
5. Lower Largo to St Monans
10. St Andrews to Newport
11. Newport to Newburgh
