Armchair travelling – St Monans, Fife

One hot afternoon last week we went for a drive along to the East Neuk of Fife, starting at the village of St Monans. Below is a photo of St Monans kirk with some beach explorers in the foreground. If you look closely you should be able to see the ancient sea worn steps that lead up to the church. Presumably in years past some people did sail there to the church service. For many it would have been a lot easier than tackling roads which would have amounted to little more than tracks.

St Monans Kirk, Fife, Scotland

The teazles and geraniums right above the beach were looking great. It’s surprising how much salty atmosphere some plants can put up with.

St Monans flowers , Fife, East Neuk

St Monans flowers , East Neuk, Fife

It was a sparkling day, too hot for us at around 70F, but I still didn’t fancy my chances in the Firth of Forth/North Sea, far too cold without a wet suit on.

St Monans, coast, Firth of Forth, Fife

Further along the coastal path you reach a windmill which was used in the salt making industry which went on by the edge of the water, there are only indentations left in the grass now, all the buildings having been washed away by the sea years ago I suppose.

St Monans Windmill, Fife, East Neuk

There is a rather primitive outdoor swimming pool in the photo below. It has been cleared out recently by some local people as the council had stopped maintaining it, so I was pleased to see that it was actually being used by a brave soul. The straight edge is the swimming pool edge, it’s much longer than the usual length of a swimming pool. I would drown before I reached the far end of it as I’m not a great swimmer!

St Monans rocks and pool , Fife

The rocks above the beach are interesting looking, to me anyway. I need a geologist.

St Monans rocks, Firth of Forth, Fife

St Monans rocks, Fife

As the school holidays have already begun in Scotland there were lots of people about so I didn’t take any photos of the old fishing village of St Monans but if you want to see some images look here.

The only photo I took at the nearby village of Elie was of the ancient doorway below. It’s a pity that the stonework is so worn as I think the carving would have been interesting.

Doorway Elie, Fife

6 thoughts on “Armchair travelling – St Monans, Fife

  1. I really enjoy your scenery photos, especially the ones of historic places. Of course, it makes me want to visit Scotland again, but our travels overseas for the next couple of years will be to Germany and surrounding areas since our son and his family have just gone back there with his job in the military. Your photos reminded me of a book I just finished titled Apricot Sky which had some lovely descriptions of your country and the coastal areas. I enjoyed the story, too.

    • Paula,
      I’ve just taken a note of that book, I’m sure I’ve read Ruby Ferguson in the past. I hope that we all manage to travel easily and safely again in the future, we’re hoping to go to visit my brother and his family in the Netherlands, but they are having another lockdown – and we really should be I think as Covid rates are quite high in places.

  2. Unbelievably picturesque! What a nice outing. I hope there was a good meal afterward.

    By the way, I just read a review of a book set in Fife that sounded intriguing – Lies to Tell by Marion Todd. It is the third in a series which goes against my rules, but maybe I will look for book 1 as the detective’s name is Clare, spelled as my sister does, which is less common in the US.

    • Constance,

      No we didn’t have a meal out, we looked at the queue at the famous fish and chip shop (visited by Charles and Camilla) but decided just to go home. At the moment we have to book up ahead to go into a restaurant. Anyway, we live just about 30 minutes away from the old fishing villages so it’s an easy trip for us.
      I haven’t read anything by Marion Todd, in fact I don’t think I had heard of her so thanks for keeping me informed! I didn’t realise that about the spelling of Clare, I think the two spellings here are about equal.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *