St Andrews
I decided to take in part of the East Coast of Scotland and opted to begin in St Andrews before heading down the coast and around what is known here as the East Neuk. I visited St Andrews on countless occasions, but always look forward to it. There is nothing to compare with being on the coast and looking out over the sea, and there are some fantastic views from this part of Scotland.
I always enjoy looking in on the University which is the oldest in Scotland having been established in 1413. I discovered a cafe run by the Student Union which does an excellent coffee very cheaply so well worth checking out. The cafe was more or less full, with I would say twenty customers all seated. I think there is more seating through the back, but I didn’t venture through and chose to take a table outside as the weather was glorious. As a writer, I’m always taking in my surroundings and making mental notes of places. Everything is filtered through my writer’s brain as you never know what detail can spark off a new plot line or story. I noticed that apart from the odd tourist, the cafe was filled with young women, all on laptops, drinking coffee. Clearly students, getting on with their studies. But there were no men. I googled this later and found there is a student gender ratio of 59% female to 41% male. Whether that is enough to skew the customer occupancy I don’t know. I just thought it was striking that all the tables were occupied by women.
Another must for me is visiting the ruins of St Andrews Cathedral and St Andrews Castle. Most of the castle that you can seen today dates between 1549 and 1571, though it originally dates back to around 1200. The original Cathedral dates from around 1120 to 1150 and then a new building was established in 1160 and was the largest to have been built in Scotland. It fell into disuse after the Scottish Reformation in the mid 1500’s.
Those of you who know their Scottish crime fiction will be aware that these ruins feature in the first book of the Karen Pirie detective series by Val McDermid, called The Distant Echo. The novel has been turned into a TV drama and I can thoroughly recommend checking this out.
A visit to St Andrews would not be complete without having lunch at the Cheesy Toast Shack. Expect a bit of a queue, but it’s well worth the wait. The Macaroni Toastie is the best I’ve had and is all you would need to keep you going for the rest of the day. Being on the coast the Seagulls are challenging. The Shack provides the option for paying an extra pound as insurance for a seagull swooping down and snatching your toastie from your hand. If that happens they will give you a free replacement. The money collected by the end of each month is then given to charity which is a great thing to be doing.
It’s a nice town to wander around, with a variety of interesting small shops. It’s full of history, and has a lovely beach. The town is busy at the height of the tourist season, but there is no problem parking if you head down to the beach. Ten minutes walk from there and you are back in the town. As a starting point for a journey down the East Neuk, it’s well worth the visit.
The Fiction Factory 