Today I went on day-excursion to St. Andrews. The town is famous for three things - a medieval castle/cathedral, the University (called, with devastating originality, St. Andrews University) and ofcourse, the "Old Course" (the oldest and the most famous Golf Course in the world!). There is a fourth thing it is famous for but more on that later (Hint : 1924 olympics!)
Anyways, St. Andrews is about 90 kms. from Edinburgh. The bus ride was about one and a half hours and, predictably, we were out of Edinburgh pretty fast (which is a testament to its small size). But the drive itself was extremely picturesque - the green undulating hills with sheep, horses, cows and pigs really made me feel as I had travelled back in time. A dense clump of trees would suddenly give way to a small town with a church and a 'few' houses. Every 10 to 15 miles one would see a sign proudly proclaiming "So-and-so town welcomes you" and by the time you could ask 'town?', the so-called town would be over - there would be about 10 (and if it is your lucky day, 15) houses in that town. But still it would have a beautifully manicured park and a couple of bars to cater to those 50-odd residents of that 'town'. The pastoral feel of the countryside made me feel sleepy and I am embarassed to report that I managed to sleep through most of the journey.
Anyways, to cut a long drive short, soon enough we were in St. Andrews. It was, as expected, a smallish enough town. It has a princely population of 15,000 (of which, apparently, 5000 are students at the University). What strikes it apart from Edinburgh, other than its size, is its affluence. You can see rich young things driving around in their Alfa Romeos and their open-top Mercedes.
Anyways, the most famous historical monuments of the town are an ancient Cathedral (constructed in 1159AD, though now in ruins) and a castle. It is not certain as to what caused the cathedral to be torn down - the harsh inclement weather or the 'reformists' of the 16th C. Either way, the cathedral in ruins, along with gardens that are full of memorials, is a stark reminder of the transcience of life. Memorials (of all shapes and sizes) have been put up by loved ones in memory of their dear departeds. The most interesting memorial I thought was to one gentleman named "Tommy" who was 'no less acknowledged than his golfing achievements' and the memorial was put up 'by contributions from 60 golfing societies'. (Golf does loosen some screws!). There was also a haunted tower in the complex which apparently houses the ghost of the 'white lady of St. Andrews'. In no mood to meet dead women (live ones please, thank you), I beat a hasty retreat to the nearby castle.
So much ink has been spilt on the beauty of the castles of Scotland and this was my first one (yes, yes I still haven't visited the Edinburgh Castle! I know, philistine!). Anyways, the castle, dating back to the 13th century, is also in ruins as it suffered numerous attacks and counterattacks during the struggle for power between the Scots and the English (after coming to E'burgh I have learnt to distinguish between the two - as different as chalk and cheese!). The beauty of the ruins is enhanced by the fact that it is on a cliff right next to the sea which really gives it a stark appearance. The most interesting part of the castle, however, is a mine and (hold your breath!) a counter-mine. A mine was dug up by outsiders when the castle was under seige, so that they could enter it. When those inside the castle came to know of the mine, they dug up their very own counter-mine to stop the outsiders from coming in. Anyways, the mine goes deep inside the earth and is very very narrow - one of the few times in life, when being short in height paid off!
After the Castle, it was a gentle trot to the Golf Course - St. Andrews is, for the benifit of the ignorant among you, the home of golf. It has the oldest golf course in the world which is, predictably, name "Old Course" (there are 5 other courses in St. Andrews). The "Old Course" is apparently more than 600 years old - it has approx. 112 bunkers, some of which have interesting names such as "Hell" (reminds me of my cooking these days) and "Strath". Anyways, the course begins and ends in the town itself and despite being a non-golfer (thankfully), I could still imagine the pleasure of teeing off on this course with the gentle sea-breeze and the sound of the sea-waves providing background music. The green fee, for those jumping into their golf outfit to make a dash to St. Andrews, is 120 Pounds and apparently there is a waiting period of a couple of months ("I say John, fancy a game of golf early next year? Would 5th of January be fine with you?").
Right next to the Golf course is the "West Sands" beach. For the trivia minded, this 3 mile long sandy beach, has been made famous by "Chariots of fire" - the beach scenes at the beginning and end of the movie plus the shots of Eric Liddle training on a beach were filmed here. Standing there, one could almost imagine Eric Liddle, getting ready to run against Harold Abrahams.
After finally soaking in so much of history as I could take in in one day, I decided to amble back to the town centre which, today, was hosting a used-book fair and a flower market. Not having any one to give flowers to, I went straight to the used-book stalls and, amidst the church bells, picked up a book on the poetry of Keats (I need it for class, not that I have developed a taste for poetry!).
(Sept, 2006)
