Golf, ruins and the sea

Posted: Sunday, May 06, 2007 at 0007 hrs IST
Updated: Sunday, May 06, 2007 at 0007 hrs IST

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: 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, fancy a game of golf early next year? Would 5th of January next year be fine with you?”). I hung around for a while watching the professionals and amateurs (there was one gentleman in dark green tartan trousers) strut their stuff. To remind myself of my tryst with golf, I purchased an overpriced golf ball at the British Golf Museum that has fascinating exhibits on the history and development of the game.

Right next to the Golf course is the “West Sands” beach. For those interested in trivia, this three-mile long sandy beach was 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, I could almost imagine Eric Liddle, getting ready to run against Harold Abrams. I was not appropriately attired otherwise I might have broken into a run (with the ‘Chariots of Fire’ theme song being miraculously played in the background). Seals and dolphins are often seen swimming ashore here. Mother nature did not smile on me that day and I was deprived of the sightings.

The town is dotted with elegant buildings of The University of St. Andrews, which is Scotland’s oldest university, founded in 1410-11. Like any other university town, St. Andrews doesn’t have a campus but the university buildings are part of the town itself. The most famous buildings are the quads of two of the colleges – St. Salvator’s in North Street (1451) and St. Mary’s in South Street (1512).

After having soaked in as much history as I could in a day, I decided to amble back to the town centre, which, that day, was hosting a used-book fair and a flower market. Sitting on a roadside café, with the peeling of the church bells in the background, and enjoying the slow languorous pace of the town was a nice way to end a pleasant day.

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