Stacra two

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I did the route backwards from Crail to St Andrews. I think it would be better the other way round, the St Andrews end of the path is quite demanding and would have been a better start than finish.

Bus routes to Crail are frequent from St Andrews to the North and Leven to the South (which links up with Edinburgh). St Andrews is also linked in to the rail network via the bus shuttle going every 10 minutes to and from Leuchers station.

I took a slight detour from the marked route: rather than turn up at Kirklands I kept on past the old airfield and turned left at Balcomie, an easier to access the Fife Coastal Path you will now be following. If you wanted a longer walk you could drop down onto the Path from Crail which would take you round Fife Ness and add approx an extra 2 miles / 3.2km onto your route.

Past Balcomie Farm a good farm track leads straight on down to a locked bar gate (remembering to climb on the hinge side) and there's a path across Crail golf course to the Coastal Path. You need to know your golf etiquette for this route, there are 3 courses along it where walkers share space with golfers.

The path is easy alongside Cambo Sands up to Cambo and Kingsbarns. There are 2 possible routes, the alternative route takes you up to Cambo Farm where you can stop for a coffee

Beyond here there's a tougher bit where you are walking on the beach for half a mile, a mixture of rocks, large pebbles and sand, then the path jinks inland on a lovely woodland path alongside Kenly Water up to Boarhills. Beautiful spring day for it (rain at Crail easing off), wood anenomes, celandine, blackthorn blossom, primroses and lots of birdsong. At Boarhills the track turns back across the fields coming out at Buddo Ness.

This is where you will find Buddo Rock, an extraordinary huge lump of stone freestanding on the shore, arched at one end, made of sinuous layered sandstone. A good place to stop as I knew the last bit of the path towards St Andrews is harder work. I made lunch here and rested my feet looking out over the beach (see picture)

Beyond Buddo Ness, round Kinkell Ness and along Kinkell Braes the path runs alongside a steep escarpment. It skirts this to begin with, including a beach part where you have to haul yourself up using a handle set into the rock. But then it begins to rise and fall in a series of embedded rock steps and climbs up and down the escarpment all the way to St Andrew's East Sands. Hard work when you're carrying 12 kilos and are tired by battling a 35 to 40mph wind. But at least it had stopped raining and the sun was doing its best to come out.

From East Sands it's an easy walk through St Andrews to the bus station, although I did manage to get myself turned around, but it's easy if you're not me...

A lovely walk, an easy day hike that would need sturdy shoes for the rougher parts. This is the second time I've walked it, both times from Crail to St Andrews because buses from St Andrews are more frequent than those from Crail so I knew I wouldn't have long to wait to get home.

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