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Route No. 307 -
Thursday 13 August 2009
The Ice House, Shell walk - 6km
Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve
Fife, Scotland . . .
Ordnance Survey route map on
the Landranger series map base.
View the route in Google Earth
Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer 371 St. Andrews & East Fife at 1:25000
| This week we are staying in a relative's holiday cottage
in Cellardyke on the Fife coast in Scotland with our daughter and family
and we provide the built-in baby sitting. Today we all went by car to
the National Nature Reserve at Tentsmuir just north of St. Andrews on
the mouth of the Firth of Tay. |
|
Peacock butterfly on some ragwort by the path
Woodland path to the ice house
Woodland path to the ice house
Our four year old grand daughter was given the job of finding the next
waymarker with its blue and silver shell motif and she led the way along
the forest path from the car park. The path through the woodland was
very pretty with the dappled sunlight through the trees. After about
3km the path came out onto a forest access track at the ice house.
|
We parked at the Kinshaldy car park in the Tentsmuir National Nature
Reserve at map ref. NO498243. At the car park there is a children's
playground, good information board and some toilets. From the information
board we selected a waymarked walk of about six kilometres through the
forest to an ice
house and back along the beach and sand dunes.
Waymark post and guide
Woodland path to the ice house
Woodland path to the ice house
|
|
Woodland path to the ice house
Our picnic at the ice house
Tentsmuir Point information board
It had been a very pleasant morning and we had seen no-one else in
the woods on the way to the ice house. A party of school children arrived
at the ice house as we were finishing our lunch. From the ice house
we followed the way markers across the scrubland to the beach
|
This stone structure was built in the early 1800's to store ice collected
during the winter and used to preserve salmon caught in the Firth of
Tay. The salmon packed in ice was shipped south to England and to Europe.
We stopped at a picnic table by the ice house for our lunch.
The ice house with soil & turf insulation on the roof
Leaving the ice house clearing
Heading across the scrubland to the beach
|
|
Our first view of the beach
Just so much sand
I took a photo hoping that it would enlarge enough to see the jumble
of grey shapes. The children were not keen to walk. They preferred to
play on the sand, but we had to keep going until we were close to the
car park.
|
We reached the edge of the dunes and looked out across a huge expanse
of sand. About 2km away across the sand there was a jumble of grey shapes.
My binoculars revealed the grey shapes to be seals and a few rocks.
Looking along Tentsmuir Sands
Grey shapes on the sand - some of them are seals, honest
|
Looking across the mouth of the Firth of Tay |
Driftwood in the dunes |
The morning sunshine was replaced by threatening shower clouds |
|
Heading back along the dunes
Heading back along the dunes
The weather was too cold and showery now to stop on the beach and we
joined the path along the dunes back to the car park.
|
The sunny weather we had this morning was quickly changing to dark
shower clouds with a cold wind. We made our way along the beach with
an occasional game of hide and seek in the dunes.
Heading back along the dunes
Heading back along the dunes
|
The dune area between the Tentsmuir forest and the beach |
|
Crossing the dunes at the edge of the car park
The walk had been about 6km and including our picnic and beach games
it had taken us 3 hours to walk. We drove into St. Andrews for a coffee
shop and ice creams for the children before returning to our holiday
cottage in Cellardyke.
|
At the car park there was a sudden change in the children when they
remembered to playground and with renewed vigour they set about the
various climbing frames, slides and swings.
Children's playground at the car park
|
