Saturday Adventure: St. Monans, Pittenweem and The Fife Coastal Path

     After looking at today's weather forecast, we decided it would be a good day to explore some more of the southern coast of Fife.  Despite a 0% chance of raining, it was raining when we walked out the door and continued for the next two hours!  We remember where we are when the winds whip and it is drizzly rain, so we press on.

     We stopped by the first Saturday of the month Farmers' Market in St Andrews, then ventured on for our adventure.

We thought this fish smoking outfit was the most unique thing at the farmers' market.

   We took the bus to St. Monans.  The ancient fishing village is named for a cave-dwelling saint who was probably killed by pirates.  As we walked west, the first major thing we came to is the historic parish church.  No other Scottish church is located closer to the sea.  It was built in 1362 by the orders of King David (of Scotland) II.  He had been rescued by villagers from a shipwreck.

This is a little bridge with a tiny rushing river flowing into the North Sea.

     Newark Castle, aka St. Monans Castle, is a close walk continuing westward.  It probably dates back to the 13th century, though most of what remains is much later than that.  This is one of those examples of having too many castles to take care of.  There are a few signs to keep off the walls, but it is very isolated and clearly no efforts are being made to preserve it.  It must have been a defensive castle rather than a residence.  There is no Great Hall or bed chambers perched on these cliffs.  We felt  like this is "the most Scottish thing that we have done" with the waves rolling in and no sign of any industrial progress within view from the cliffs of the castle.  It truly was amazing and we were glad that we had not been deterred by the weather.  More here about the castle:  http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stmonans/newarkcastle/

The church coming from the west with St. Monans in the background.

 The walk along the coastal path took us through some breathtaking scenery and we went past the St. monads windmill.  In the 18th century, this area was used to mine salt from the sea and the windmill was part of that endeavor.  

Pittenweem 

     From here, we turned east and headed toward Pittenweem.  We have been to this quaint little fishing village before, but we had been told that we must go to The Cocoa Tree for hot chocolate.  See here:  http://www.pittenweemchocolate.co.uk/chocolate-specialities/

Some of the front doors here are amazing.  

I might need to take more pictures of doors on our adventure, though I'm not sure that I'll post them all.