Thursday, 6 September 2012

Saint Andrews, sitting ducks !

 
Before this trip I had never even been to Saint Andrews let alone paddled it's beautiful waters. Our trip took us from the leisure centre on the East Sands up to the the river Eden Estuary and on to the deserted beaches and the wildlife reserve of Tentsmuir Forest.
 
 George had many happy memories of visiting this area as a child. He has been keen to get on the water here for a while now to get a different view of the City. I must admit on this particular fine sunny September day the city of Saint Andrews delivered the goods as a first class paddling venue.
 
The sun was splitting the sky as the coastguard at Fife Ness informed us that he was recording a 15 knot North West wind. This was fine for us as that was coming off the land and there was a small redundant swell running in from the East.
 
 
 
We slipped without trace under the land marks of the Ancient City. Looking back inshore George reminisced of times gone by when he had bathed in the old swimming pool on the shore. This used to be fed by sea water each high tide. How times have changed now with heated chlorinated pools and wave machines. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
We left the rocky shore line below the old town and made our way to cleaner ground. We had fun all the the way picking  out the bigger swells and surfing them  back into the clean sandy beaches. George demonstrated a new reverse surfing technique he has learnt. It seems to work better when your VHF aerial is inserted in your left nostril, strange but true !
 
 

 
 
Up on the West sands the Old Course of Saint Andrews sits nestled behind the dunes. Looking to the North there's clean sand all the way up to the Tay Estuary. The swell lines were long and clean, breaking at regular intervals all the way up the beach as far as the eye could see. The wind off the land was blowing the tops of the waves back out to sea creating rainbows of fine salty spray. 





 


 
 
 
 
As we approached the River Eden Estuary we were served a timely reminder that we had entered the  RAF Leuchars airbase boundaries. Several squadrons of Typhoon Euro Fighters were returning from training exercises. It was a frightening experience but also so exciting to paddle under their flight path as they were coming into land. The jets would come in as if to touch down only to pile on the gas and lift off in a roar of pure power. The first three jets had done this twice when the first in the squadron came in very low on top of us. It looked unusual as it came towards us standing nose over tail almost stalling in speed as it reached our position. What happened next will stay with me as long as I live. The pilot was having fun with us and piled on the gas just meters above our heads. I would swear that he blew the water away and I touched the sand. My whole boat was vibrating, I dropped the camera and cupped my hand over my ears in a futile attempt to blot out the roar. The Typhoon took off vertically above us, the only thing louder than the roar of the jet engine would have been the pilot laughing at the expressions on our faces.  A few more jets arrived in formation putting the icing on the cake for our very own personal air show.
 













After all the excitement we hauled our boats up the beach for a spot of lunch. We found shelter from the wind in the lea of Tentsmuir Forest. The area of dunes and scrub before the forest was alive with wildlife. Like us they were enjoying a long overdue spell of fine weather. 















Fed and watered we loaded up and zig zagged our way back down the beach, playing on the small surf waves as we went. We arrived back at the leisure centre bang on 5.00 pm and decided a trip into town to sample the local fish and chips was on the cards. George decided it would be a good idea to show me the Old Course club house and proceeded to drive right over the grass in front of it to get a good view,,,Nutter !
 

 

 
 What a day, I went with low expectations and drove home planning  a return trip. Next  time I'll be heading in the opposite direction towards Fife Ness.

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