Down by the Sea

It was earlier than it ever was before. That being said the time was actually comprised of several factors rather than just the time of day. 8 a.m. seemed more like you've-never-actually-slept-in-your-life o'clock for the better part of our traveling party due to a night of painting the town indigo. Nevertheless 8 a.m. saw us gathered in Black Medicine, or the most wonderful coffee shop in all of Scotland, and ready to depart on the 10 minute walk to catch the 8:32 train from Haymarket Station, destination: St. Andrews, Scotland. Someones insistence on actually eating breakfast like a responsible adult made us miss our train by exactly two minutes and upset everyone who woke up before half seven.  When we finally boarded our train everyone promptly fell asleep. Leuchars was picturesque. The teeny-tiny train station was surrounded by open countryside and blue rolling hills and glowing in the morning sun, we didn't stay long. A short bus ride and we were in the lovely seaside city of St. Andrews made famous by a different sort of golf than the kind I usually associate with the beach. Massive sea grass coated rocks covered the wet sand marking how dramatic the Scottish tide can be. The sight was truly something to behold and after soaking in the view for several moments I reached for my camera.

My little camera preformed bravely and with the sort of honor usually reserved for respected war heroes. Regrettably I failed my little Canon in that I forgot to charge its battery the night before and after a valiant struggle its battery died. Fear not dear reader for my trusty Droid took over and several pictures were taken over the course of the adventure. 
We journeyed down onto the beach, climbed over the massive salt soaked rocks and dipped our fingers into tide pools. The sharp cold air smelled of seaweed and salt, and the water was frigid and clear. Dunes lined the back of the beach and raced away from us curling back and out of sight and the water turned a dark grey teal as it raced back to the horizon. Frothy waves rushed up the dark sand and signaled the incoming of the tide. We wandered our way across the beach and up to the sidewalk and collectively decided that finding breakfast would be a good idea. After a visit to a small pub that successfully convinced us to try its pancakes we went in search of St. Andrews Cathedral, or rather what's left of it.

The remains were massive. What it might have looked like before it became a quarter of a shell while standing amongst the debris was unfathomable. The ruins loomed overhead, large stone structures still retaining ancient details. The grounds were littered with graves, some worn completely blank by time. The salty air and blue sky made the churchyard bright and peaceful and I found myself wandering amongst the gravestones quietly enjoying the odd timeless serenity. In the middle everything stood St. Rule's Tower and being a fan of tall things, climbing tall things, and of being in high places I decided that climbing it might be enjoyable. So my friend and bought tickets and proceeded up a feeble spiral staircase that led up to a stone staircase and another slightly more sturdy spiral staircase that deposited us onto the viewing platform at the very top of the tower. We looked out across the city and down onto the skeletal remains of a once awesome site. The sea breeze played havoc with my hair while I pointed my little phone around in a feeble attempt to capture the moment.

After making our way back down we decided to visit the castle. We shortly decided against visiting the castle as they wanted a ridiculous amount of money to visit the stuffy ruin and it didn't look all that great anyway and found ourselves instead on a small rock studded beach where we sat and watched the waves reveling in the peace and quiet . Our little party of travelers then walked over to the golf course for which the little city is known. I'm not big on golf, but I was still taken by the sight of the course. Golfers were golfing and we didn't want to run the risk of throwing off their respective grooves so we didn't stay long. We wound up back on the beach where we decided to stay for the remainder of our day. Tides are truly surprising things and the massive sea worn rocks we has explored mere hours before were completely submerged. After rolling up our jeans and kicking off our shoes we wandered up the beach, waded into the freezing water, lounged on the sandy dunes and enjoyed the fresh salt air until the sun began to fade out.

For your listening pleasure