Ruby Bay – Rock Pools, a Lighthouse and Lunch by the Beach
A few hours.
The route
Ruby Bay is a little sheltered beach at the east end of Elie, with rock pools to poke about in when the tide is out.
On the rocks above stands a ruined stone tower where a lady of the 1700s changed for her morning swim, and there's a white lighthouse on the point. Then it's a short walk round to the Ship Inn on Elie's beach for lunch. It's a lovely morning for families with young children.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book lunch at the Ship Inn, Elie
Book a table at the Ship Inn on its website for about noon, after the rock pools: lunch is served every day from 12pm, Monday to Saturday until 2.45pm and on Sunday right through to 8pm, and if anyone in the party can't manage stairs ask for the ground-floor restaurant when you book, as the first-floor one has no lift.
The day
Elie
The whole morning is on foot by the sea on the East Neuk coast. Hunt the rock pools at Ruby Bay, walk out to the tower and the lighthouse on the point, then round to the Ship Inn for lunch looking over the sands.
About three hoursAbout 1 mile on foot
Ruby Bay
An attraction
Park in the Ruby Bay upper car park at the east end of Elie. The first two hours are free, then it's £2 for the day at the time of writing, paid by card or cash at the machine. There are toilets at Ruby Bay. The beach is right below, a small sandy bay with rock pools among its rocks when the tide is out, so check the tide times and come on a falling tide. Lift the seaweed gently and look for shore crabs, hermit crabs, anemones and little fish, and keep an eye on the sand for garnets, the red stones that gave the bay its name. The rocks are slippery, so keep small children close. Then it's a 4-minute walk out to Elie Ness lighthouse, built in 1908, and 4 minutes on to Lady's Tower, the ruined changing room that Lady Janet Anstruther had built on the rocks in the 1700s. The path is grassy and fine for small legs, though a pushchair will struggle on the sand.
14 min on foot
The Ship Inn, Elie
Lunch
From Lady's Tower it's a 14-minute walk back along the shore to the Ship Inn on Elie's main beach. Lunch is served every day from noon, until 2.45pm Monday to Saturday and through to 8pm on Sunday, with local fish and chips and a children's menu. Book a table for about noon. Ask for the ground-floor restaurant if anyone can't manage stairs, as the first floor has no lift. It's shut on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The car is 6 minutes' walk back.
If it rains
In driving rain or a big sea the rocks are no place for small children: look at the lighthouse and the tower from the path above the bay, then go straight to the Ship Inn for an early, unhurried lunch by the window.
The Ship Inn, Elie, a restaurant in Leven.
The Pavilion, Elie, a café in Elie and Earlsferry.