A Little East Neuk

 The fishing village of Anstruther stretches out along its harbour

 Crossing causeway of a small cove during low tide with retaing seawall and houses in the background

Old house encrusted with thousands of seashells in intricate designs

New section of tiny Cellardyke Harbour with the original older section on the right

A few kilometers south of St. Andrews lies East Neuk (pronounced "nook"), a collection of small fishing villages hugging the coast.  We did not have a lot of time so we focussed on the main village of Anstruther.  We parked at the top of a hill and walked down to the village that stretches along and around its harbour.  It was low tide when we arrived and so we were able to cross a small cove via a stone pathway that lead to some of the older houses in the village.  Unfortunately, we had eaten lunch in St. Andrews as Anstruther's main claim to fame these days is its fish and chips.  The village "chippies" are regularly awarded the prestigious "UK Fish and Chip Shop of the Year" award.  People have definitaly taken notice as all the Fish and Chip shops we saw had long lineups.  After strolling through the main part of the village we followed a narrow street that paralled the ocean for a couple of kilometers and ended up at tiny Cellardyke harbour originally built in 1452 by a group of Dutch dyke builders.  You can clearly see the original section of the harbour's retaining wall as the Dutch laid the stones horizontally instead of vertically, the tradional way in the UK.  We headed back to our car as we needed to get back to Edinburgh and start packing for our noon flight to Germany in the morning.