St Andrews on Foot – Cathedral, Castle and the Old Course
A day on foot, from St Andrews bus station and back.
The route
This day is laid out for a Sunday, when the Old Course is closed to golf and people walk out to the Swilcan Bridge.
St Andrews is a small town with three big claims. It was the headquarters of the medieval Scottish Church, and its university calls itself Scotland's first. Its links, the ground beside the sea, are where golf has been played for more than 600 years, by the Links Trust's count. All three stand within a mile of each other on a headland above the North Sea, and one day on foot takes them in. It takes about seven hours and is about 4 miles of pavements, a stone pier and paths, ending on the West Sands, where you walk as far as you like.
Before you go
Book standard entry to St Andrews Castle online for 11.30am on the Sunday you come, on Historic Environment Scotland's page for the castle.
Book a table for lunch at Forgan's
Book a table at Forgan's, 110 Market Street, for lunch at about 1.45pm, after the castle, the museum and the chapel.
The day
St Andrews
The morning starts at the bus station at about 9.50am and goes straight through the town to its far end, on the cliffs above the sea. The middle of the day belongs to the university's streets. The afternoon turns west and finishes on the long beach, a short walk from the bus home.
St Andrews Harbour and pier
St Andrews has no railway. Trains stop at Leuchars, and Stagecoach's buses run on to the bus station: check the Sunday times. From there it's an 18-minute walk east along Market Street and North Street to the harbour. When the pier is open, walk out along it: from its end the cathedral's gables and St Rule's Tower stand on the high ground behind you. Keep off it in rough weather. If you reach the bus station after about 10am, skip the harbour: the castle's 11.30am entry comes first.
5 min on foot
St Andrews Cathedral
An attraction
It's a 5-minute walk up the path from the pier, past the footings of St Mary on the Rock, to the cathedral's gate by the war memorial. Historic Environment Scotland describes it as once the largest church in Scotland, dedicated in 1318 with Robert the Bruce present. St Rule's Tower, older than the cathedral, is climbed only on a guided tour, so on this day it's seen from the grass. The golfer Old Tom Morris is buried here: see his grave when that part of the graveyard is open.
3 min on foot
St Andrews Castle
An attraction
The castle, once the palace of Scotland's leading bishops, is a 3-minute walk along East Scores. Book the 11.30am entry online: it's the day's one ticket. In 1546 Protestant nobles killed Cardinal Beaton and held the castle. In the siege of 1546 to 1547 the besiegers dug a mine through the rock, and the defenders a countermine to meet it. Both tunnels are closed at the time of writing; the castle's page says what is open. The courtyard, towers and bottle dungeon are open. No dogs, bar assistance dogs.
6 min on foot
Wardlaw Museum
It's a 6-minute walk west along The Scores, the street on the cliff top, to the Wardlaw Museum. On the way, the initials GW set into the ground outside the castle mark, by tradition, where the preacher George Wishart was burned in 1546. The museum is the university's own, free and open every day, with four galleries of its art, science and history. Half an hour does it. Leave time for the terrace and garden, which look straight out over the sea.
About 3 min on foot
St Salvator’s Chapel
An attraction
Butts Wynd leads in 3 minutes to North Street and St Salvator's, the university chapel, founded in 1450. In the pavement at its gateway are the initials PH. By tradition they mark where Patrick Hamilton was burned for heresy in 1528, and students, the story goes, never step on them for fear of failing their exams. On Sundays in term the chapel is open only for worship, so see it from the street. The quad is the college courtyard behind the arch: look in if the gate stands open.
6 min on foot
Hamish McHamish Statue
An attraction
It's a 6-minute walk to Logies Lane, but lunch comes first. Forgan's, on Market Street, 4 minutes from the chapel, serves from 11.30am: book a table for about 1.45pm and allow an hour. Two minutes on, in the pedestrian lane, sits Hamish McHamish in bronze. He was a ginger cat who took to the streets when young and lived about the town, fed in its shops and houses. The statue, by David Annand, was paid for by public donations and unveiled in April 2014, five months before he died.
15 min on foot
Old Course at St Andrews
An attraction
It's a 15-minute walk to The Links, the road beside the 18th fairway, and the Swilcan Bridge, the stone arch on the last hole. The St Andrews Links Trust keeps the Old Course closed to golf on Sundays, when people walk out to the bridge to be photographed. Keep outside the course as far as the end of the white fence by the bridge, and wait your turn there. Keep off the greens and out of the bunkers. On other days golf is played: see the bridge from The Links.
9 min on foot
St Andrews West Sands
An attraction
The West Sands are a 9-minute walk by Grannie Clark's Wynd, the public road across the first and last fairways. When golf is being played, wait there for the players and watch for balls. The beach runs north for almost two miles, and the film Chariots of Fire opens on it. From the first marked path the bus station is 12 minutes' walk. Check the Sunday times for your bus back: there's daylight to spare in summer, but in autumn and winter turn while the light is good.
If it rains
On a wet Sunday the morning changes order. Leave out the pier, and give the cathedral ten minutes in waterproofs, as it has no roof. Walk on past the castle to the Wardlaw Museum, 6 minutes along The Scores, which is free and open from 10am to 5pm, and come back for the castle's 11.30am entry: its visitor centre and exhibition are under cover, its ruins are not. The St Andrews Heritage Museum, at 12 North Street, fills about 45 minutes before lunch: its website, standrewsmuseum.com, gives 10.30am to 4pm daily, with a ticket. After lunch, Topping & Company, the bookshop on Greyfriars Garden, is open from 9am to 8.30pm every day. See the Swilcan Bridge from the road, and keep the West Sands for a break in the weather, as there's no shelter on the beach. In a high wind leave the sands out too.
Worth a detour
- Topping & Company
Topping & Company is an independent bookshop at 7 Greyfriars Garden, open from 9am to 8.30pm every day, Sundays included. It's a 4-minute walk from the statue, by Market Street, and it lies on the way to The Links, so it adds no walking: only the time you spend among the shelves. Take that time from the West Sands rather than from the Old Course.
- The Scores and the Martyrs' Monument
From the south end of the sands, walk along the Bruce Embankment and up to the Martyrs' Monument at the west end of The Scores, 9 minutes away, for the view back over the whole length of the beach. The bus station is 7 minutes on from there, by Golf Place and City Road. It adds about 4 minutes to the walk back, and it crosses no fairway, so it is the way to take on a day when golf is being played.
- The R&A World Golf Museum
The R&A World Golf Museum is the museum of the R&A, one of golf's governing bodies. It stands on the Bruce Embankment, next to the R&A's clubhouse at the first tee, a few minutes' walk from the Swilcan Bridge and 8 minutes from the bus station. It's indoors, with a ticket. Look on its own page for the day's hours and last entry before you count on it.
Make it a weekend
More days out in St Andrews.
Photographs by The Silk Road, RG Rodriguez, John Gavin Lighterness and Kamelia Chaichi via Google; dun_deagh