Day Trip to Fife; Tentsmuir & St Andrews

Up early and heading around the City Bypass by 7am on Saturday Morning with the Pugsley on the back of the wee car. Destination today is somewhere i went mountain biking back in 1993.

While working at Gullane Golf Course as well as doing an apprenticeship (remember them? !) we did our block release at Elmwood Collage at Cuper in Fife. We also had a few practical days along the road at St Andrews on the famous Links.
I took my Diamond Back MTB with me and did a couple of arranged night rides around Tentsmuir Forest just to the north of RAF Leuchers Airbase.
I will never forget trying to follow some RAF guys i met up with via a night on the razz in St Andrews and talking bikes as always and it was a real laugh bombing around the woods with just a PICO head torch! lol
Most of the guys had Cannondales bought when they were in the states and brought home tax free in RAF Aircraft!.
The Cannondale bug bit me in these woods that first evening group ride after a while riding a red `Beast from the East`, what an aggressive bike to ride compared to my lazy Diamond Back...
The guys had lights way better than mine and they were fit as hell, my skills were a bit better so i managed to catch up on any techy bits...

Pt1; Tentsmuir;

8am and a real hard frost, 89 miles here and although 8.30am only a couple of cars here...

You  pay £2 to park and for your money you get a forest full of excellent information signs, a folding information  map with various woodland trails to cycle or walk and stuff to see.
The trails are signed by marker poles so not too intrusive and the information signs i think are excellent -
East Lothian Council take note!...

I rode around the coast just in from the dunes following some of the many miles of undulating sandy single track which intersects the main trails and forest roads...

Ice House...

Out the woods and along through the dunes...

There is loads of Coastal Defences here at Tentsmuir. A polish camp was stationed here which constructed the defences. I never visited the remains of the camp buildings today in the woods. I will return after the New Year when vegetation has died back.,,,

Two Pill boxes ahead...

Both half filled with sand and barbed wire thrown in...

Several miles of grassy trails here through the dunes...

Back into the forest and more of the excellent single track...

Observation Post...

Another two Pill Boxes near Lundin Bridge in the North west Corner of the forest...

Beside what was a Meteorological Station during WW2...

Not seen Anti invasion blocks with domed tops before, also some are a smaller size to regular blocks i have seen elsewhere...

Along the coast, and its 8 miles to Raf Leuchers Base -:) ...

Seals with pups...

? ...

More trails after the beach became a bit soft around a small inlet...

Miles of open space...

Not cycled a beach as long as this since i was on Harris 4 years ago...

Loving it!...

We have one remaining upright WW2 Anti Invasion glider pole in East Lothian at Tyninghame, loads of them here...

This one i could see its base so this is the full height...

 

Nearing Leuchers Base...

`She sells sea shells on the sea shore`...

-:)

Ran out of sand here although the coast continues as mud flats...

Clambered up the bank, The fire fighting training plane...

After midday so time to get going as i had another place to visit. Only thing i never found was the remains of an Iron Pill Box, Similar to an `Alan Williams Turret` i have since home found the RCAHMS site report for it with Grid reference so find it next time; RCAHMS Tentsmuir

Back to the forest along a meandering trail alongside Anti Invasion Tank Blocks...

And two rows of the smaller `Dragons Teeth` defence line...

More lovely single track through the woods back to the car park...

Pt2;  St Andrews;

St Andrews is a stunning Seaside town.

The debate will go on forever where the game of Golf was first played,
Some say here in the dunes at St Andrews in Fife by shephards who played a game with their crooks...
Others as i believe say it was played by Dutch Sailors at Lieth Links...

East Lothian is home to the oldest Golf Club in the world; The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers
founded in 1744 and who have been at Muirfield since 1891.

The oldest Golf Course in the world is also in East Lothian at Musselburgh Links where documented is evidence of a game of golf played here in 1672...

However St Andrews takes the honour of being called `The Home of Golf` with its Old Course and surrounding 6 courses which all play on the Links .
Home of  `The Royal and Ancient Club` (R&A) which exercises the rules of Golf worldwide and is the most frequent venue for `The Open` Championship...

The famous bridge on the 18th Old Course which the biggest names in the history of the game have crossed during the Open Championship...

Ist Tee, 18th Green...

One of the more famous shops of many in the Town...

The Town is famous for being a seaside resort with its beaches, University and of course St Andrew and the towns ruin Cathedral and Castle...

Beside the Old Course is a stretch of beach made famous as featured in the 1981 Film `Chariots of Fire`

Start of the film on the West Beach, cracking tune by Vangelis too!...



Time for food...

And another look around town...

Then along above the west beach and away from the crowds and a look at the course.
Old Head Point...

I have not played Golf since my late teens, but i love Green keeping and just like when i cycle past Luffness, Gullane, Muirfield or The West Links at North Berwick here in East Lothian the Green Keeper in me has a look at the turf...
Becoming a Head Greenkeeper i have joined the ranks of the many who for generations have become responsible for the future of these places.
What we do now affects the future of these groomed pastures so we are preserving and improving with the latest technologies, equipment and lessons learned over the last 150+ years.
I still wonder why the skills passed on from the older to younger generation of green keepers has so little value in wages which are well below the National average here in the UK.

Scottish green keepers are the most sought after in the world of Golf,
(remember the Head Groundsman in `Caddie Shack` was Scottish! -:) )
To be time served for instance like myself at Gullane and have that on your CV is a passport to anywhere worldwide... And many Scots have went abroad to manage courses, often drawn by the wages offered...

Yet some of us just want to stay and work where we were born and grew up here on the Scottish East Coast.
So little is understood of the essential experience of the men (and woman) who manage these living historic places...

Ever wonder why your lawn at home in your garden does not look great all year round  yet the grass on these Golf Courses is always perfect?... takes more than just fertiliser...

And it is the turf which is so special on these courses that are over 150 years old. Fine Fescue and Bent grasses which grow in the low fertile sands and can  withstand the burning salt air, cold easterly drying winds and yet can be cut to very low heights, seriously low like below 4mm...

The great thing about St Andrews is The Town owns the Links, Not an absentee overseas land owner.
No Golf is played on Sunday and the public have access to walk over the links (responsibly).
This is another public putting green but with a difference check out the moguls!.
Closed for winter it is the Himalayans, an 18 hole natural crazy golf, you even get a choice of hickory shaft putter -:)...

This is what people come from all around the world to play, The original game, on holes that were formed through the dunes and have evolved over time...

Most people don`t like Golf or are not interested in it.
Growing up in East Lothian it is part of our history and for many like myself we make a living from it.
To visit here and walk across the hallowed ground is looking at years of greenkeeping by people with a real passion for there work, i will show you some of that passion and skill after a wee cycle along the coastline beside the course...

Links bunkers;
The faces are revetted strips of turf cut 6" wide and are hand layed then the face is packed behind and downwards by human feet.
The skill is matching the sides into the surrounding landscape to make the bunker a natural  feature.
Folding the turf back and skimming the thickness with an edging iron is how we do it.
This is when the skill of a Links green keeper takes on a kind of art work when building these.
The steepness of the face is not the same all the way round and thats the clever bit, getting that right.
It comes with experiance. I have not built a revetted bunker for 15 years since leaving Gullane and working on a Coastal Parkland course, but had built loads in the 10 years i was at Gullane and like riding a bicycle you never forget...

Some bunkers need rebuilding every 2 - 3 years, some can last over 10 years...

We used to put a time capsule in them behind the facing.
Jam jars with a newpaper clip, The names of the greenkeepers present in the squad and who built it etc,
We found a few from the 1950s and added our names, how long the face had lasted and the date rebuilt...

Two flags on one green?, double greens were how many early links courses were layed out...

Today's solo ride was to close a few doors in my personal life and look back and now forward.
After a terrible summer at work with the wettest summer on record i was ready to quit my job, try sell my house and then live off the money for a year or two once i payed off the mortgage.

Do i want to turn my back on a 25 year career that i know i have a lot of experience in and have a good CV with 10 years working at Gullane Links and with references from some of the most respected people in Scottish Green keeping?
No...
When i looked around here today it reminded me i am still a Scottish Links Green keeper...

Whether i stay in my present job for much longer or not remains to be seen but i will again work on a historic East Coast Links Course again...

Back on the bike and onto the beach, and that low tide this morning now means an incoming high tide now mid afternoon...

Real soft here...

What a stunning afternoon...

Around the Point at Old Head and down the famous west beach, firmer going now...

Been a while since weve seen shadowman!...

 Space Hoppers! -:) ...

Of course i was whistling the Vangelis tune from Chariots of Fire as i cruised down the beach!...

Back into town, And Happy 5th Birthday Pugsley this weekend! been a great time, lots more adventures to come...