Scozmo's Photery

March 28th 2025 – St. Monans and more

We’d had a great wander around Dunino Den in the early part of the morning so we decided to head for St. Monans, another of the Fife coast fishing villages, this one is well known to me after seeing lots of lovely images of the outer sea break wall.

I’m going to embed some images from Flickr so any likes etc. are attributed to the original photographer, I never got the chance for anything like these but, fingers crossed.

I really like long exposure images of water but I am terrible for lack of preparation like, taking the tripod and an appropriate filter! 😦

That aside, St. Monans, like all these towns has a great history and looks wonderful.

St. Monans – Wikipedia

St. Monans – Welcome to Fife

St. Monans – Undiscovered Scotland ( a great site if you’d like to see more of Scotland)

None of these towns are very far apart and the entire Fife coast can be walked, I met quite a few folk from all over the world, walking this path.

When we arrived, we found a car park at the top of town, the top of the hill; these are small towns and parking can be difficult and the residents must get pretty fed up visitor cars parking all over the place.It’s a decent steep walk down into town and more-so going back up of course.

As soon as we hit the harbour area, we split up, I started taking photos and walking where the lens took me so the others kind of sauntered around or followed me a bit.

We had arrived right on lunch time and some people were hungry so we found a wee cafe / restaurant and ate before we explored further.

The Giddy Gannet, St. Monans – I’m using Trip Advisor for more information, their own site is on Facebook 😦 The food we had was delicious. I had a Wee Porker: Cheese scone with bacon, scrambled egg & chilli jam, mmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmm 🙂

So after filling up, we had a good wander. There’s an eatery on the pier that was closed, not sure if it’s re-opening but it had a great area around it to look out over the sea.

There was a good breeze blowing, lifting spray off the sea and the sky kept threatening rain but it never came for us.

The other side of that building was the East pier.

I walked out onto the East pier and took these shots, merged into a single panorama from the corner, I was heading out to the point on the left where there is a ladder onto the top of the sea wall and that gives access to the Z breakwater.

Did I mention it was windy? When I clambered up to the top of the ladder, the wind hit me like a hurricane!!! There was no way I was getting over and onto the breakwater, it was all I could do to hang on to the ladder rail, get my camera out and point it in approximately the right direction!

You may get a sense of the wind in the waves breaking over the wall.

I took several shots but quickly gave up, not meant to be on this day.

I played around with some styles in PS …. not sure

I slowly and carefully, climbed back down onto the main pier and headed back.

I grabbed a couple of shots looking West(ish) towards Elie, you can see the coastal path on the headland.

I stopped at the landward end of the pier to watch the waves breaking onto the houses on the front and this was NOT a high sea at all..

You can see the coast looking back towards Pittenweem and Anstruther beyond that with the St Monans Windmill on the headland.

And finally, a few shots around the harbour area.

Weather over the Firth of Forth

Jasper and Dignity.

It was getting pretty chilly now and the wind was really picking up so, back up that hill to the car and back towards home.

We did stop in Pittenweem at a The Pop In shop!!!!! You must stop in there for a browse at least!

“The Pop In in Pittenweem is a treasure trove for antique enthusiasts and collectors. It offers a wide range of items, from antiques to contemporary finds, including paintings, craftwork by local artists, and unique curiosities with provenance. The shop is known for its eclectic selection and the ability to haggle for items, making it a delightful experience for visitors. While some items may be overpriced, many others are highly regarded and well-priced. The shop is situated on the main road as you drive through Pittenweem, making it a convenient stop for those in the area.”

We will be back in St. Monans!

I did head out again on my own that afternoon, there’s an old airfield just beyond Crail and I’ve always wanted to visit. It was an early Fleet Air Arm base and as ex Fleet Air Arm myself, I love having a wander round historic airfields and the like but, no joy. There’s asbestos involved apparently and, despite contacting a few email addresses about the site, no answer! One of my pet hates in this modern age, a contact option with no responses. So ….

RNAS Crail / HMS Jackdaw

Maybe next time

Stay and safe and well.

wanderings