More of the FCP and three caslte ruins

 The coast line that connects these small fishing villages can be described as nothing other than dramatic. Yesterday on my walk from St.Monans to the next village over, Elie, I was again amazed at the diversity of the sights. 

The beginning of the FCP towards Elie.

Looking back at St.Monans.

Are those ruins?? :D

Right away, within the first 15 minutes of the walk, a ruined castle popped up on the horizon. It is Newark Caslte that was probably built in 13th century at which time the Scottish king Alexander III spent some of his childhood there. (thank you internet.) When I was walking up to it, I had no idea about any of that, I just knew it was a ruined castle. Which is awesome. 

This one was much bigger than the other one I saw a few weeks ago. There was also a section that you could walk into; part of an old room of some kind. It was so cool. As soon as I took a step in, a pigeon burst out of a hole in the wall, causing me to shit myself...

Inside, it was signifigantly cooler, and I could see my breath. I was also surprised at how much it muffled the sound of the sea. It felt very quiet and heavy in there. So basically what all this means is I took 5 million pictures; here we go!

CASTLES!!

This was the way to the inside. Where the pigeon was...

The inside area. So cool...

The "upstairs" area.

Not sure what this is...but it's cool.

So I spent quite a long time exploring around the old castle before I continued on the trail. Elie was only 2 miles away, it took me nearly 4 hours to get there, mostly because I took my sweet time and kept getting distracted by cool things along the way. 

One place where I also spent a fair a bit of time was on a very nice beach. The tide was all the way out, so there was lots to see and explore. 

Climbed to the top of these rocks.

Check out these rocks

I had my lunch there, then continued along the path. And passed another set of ruins. This time it was what used to be Ardross Castle. 

After that came lots of farm land to the right and another beautiful sand beach to the left. For a good portion,  I walked along the beach rather than on the trail. The amount of flotsam and jetsam that I saw was astonishing. I think I saw more dead birds than live ones, at least four shoes, and dozens of bundles of rope and lobster traps. 

Driftwood!

Soon enough I saw the silhouette of another ruin cropping up at the end of the point up ahead. 

Lady's tower!

The Elie light house.

History of Lady's tower. Pretty sweet.

Then I arrived in the town of Elie, where I walked around for a little bit. Mostly to find a bathroom...stupid water. 

Found it!!

View of the beach from Elie. Can't see it in this picture..but the Binn can be seen to the far right.

I love the colorful buildings in these small fishing villages. They are really beautiful and great to photograph. So I walked back to St.Monans (turns out it takes only about 40 minutes if I don't get distracted and move a a normal pace) and relaxed for a little bit. My stupid hiking shoes are so uncomfortable on long walks...if feels better to wear converse. So as soon as I got back inside, I started researching hiking boots and almost ordered some because I am that desperate. (hint hint family members/friends. You know my birthday is coming up...)