Elie, Earlsferry and Shell Bay

The walk begins in the tree lined town square of Elie. The town's economy once thrived on fishing, boat building and weaving, but its present prosperity stems from the fine golf links and golden sands. The route initially heads inland, through a corridor of rhododendrons towards Elie House. Just to your east is a striking folly, the monument bearing no inscriptions. Simply a plaque of a horse's head; it is thought to commemorate either an Elie racehorse or one of the favourite horses of a lady of Elie House.

Elie House, the ancestral home of the Anstruther family since 1366, includes remnants of an L-shaped tower house that was built by Sir William Anstruther in 1697. The most celebrated of the house's former residents was Janet Fall, who married Sir John Anstruther in 1750 and was immortalised by Thomas Carlyle as "a coquette and a beauty".

Returning to the town, you follow a narrow meandering wynd down to Elie Harbour, which was established in 1586. In 1715, the Earl of Mar landed in this natural haven and joined by several sympathetic Fife lairds, raised the Jacobite standard. A few months later, the Earl returned to Elie to lead his Highland army across the Forth and into bloody battle.

The houses along the deep golden bay have high walls, which act as buttresses against surging tides. In winter, sea spray lashes the windows and wind blown sands drift along the pavements of South Street. Here is the oldest part of the town, the characterful houses have elegant crow-stepped gables and red pantile roofs.

The path along the bay leads to Earlsferry, a Royal Burgh founded by Alexander II in 1223. The island of Chapel Ness, which was once the headland here, takes its name from a chapel that was run by the Cistercian monks of North Berwick. Its forlorn ruin stands on a site that had been occupied since 1093.

As you look east from the headland, the ruins of the Lady's Tower are visible above Elie Harbour. Built in the 18th century, the tower was used as a changing room by the ravishingly beautiful (if vain) Lady Janet. When she took to the sea, a bellman walked the village streets warning peasants to keep away.

As the route continues, the path runs alongside a golf course which claims to have a sporting history dating back to the 16th century. James Braid, five times Open Champion between 1901 and 1910, was Earlsferry's most famous golfing son. He was the first player to score below 300 for 72 holes at St Andrew's Old Course, and ranked alongside Harry Vardon and JH Taylor as the greatest British golfers of the Edwardian era.

The fringes of the links are carpeted with kidney vetch, yarrow, sea rocket, birds foot trefoil, thyme and eyebright. Butterflies thrive in this unpolluted habitat, and the small heath, common blue and the colourful cinnabar moth are widespread. Warm rock pools along the shore support an exotic range of sea creatures. Well camouflaged shrimps, sea anemones and hermit, edible and dark green shore crabs scuttle beneath rocks festooned with seaweed. The sand dunes are alive with meadow rue, milk vetch, rockrose and sweet scented burnet rose, all of which flourish on the sandy soil.

The cliffs beyond the links are arguably the finest in Scotland, with spectacular basalt pillars and caves. At the foot is the Chain Walk; steps cut into the rock face and a handrail of chains providing a fascinating, if hazardous, ascent, though impassable at high tide. The largest cave provided a welcome hiding place for Macduff (Shakespeare's Thane of Fife) as he fled from the very real Macbeth, an 11th century Scottish king. A local fisherman ferried Earl Macduff across the Firth of Forth to safety, earning the town its name.

On the clifftop are remnants of wartime gun emplacements. To the west of Kincraig Point are raised beaches on three levels. These wide plateaus lead to Shell Bay. The terraces mark the levels of the sea as the land rose on the retreat of the glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age.

Gulls, terns, cormorants, fulmars, shags and gannets bob about in the current, and brilliant clumps of field poppies, sea campion and agrimony add splashes of colour to the grassy slopes, along with the pink buds and bright blue flowers of viper's bugloss - once thought to be a cure for snake bites. Beyond Shell Bay is the larger crescent of Largo Bay. In the distance is Largo Law, an extinct volcano that rises 952 feet (290 metres).

The road behind the golf course leads east to the ruins of the Old Grange. Established by the nuns of North Berwick, it was run as a hospice for travellers using ferries across the Forth of Firth. To the right of the track, a deep depression crossing the links marks the route of Cadger's Road, along which carriers trundled their wagons of fish bound for the Royal Palaces of Falkirk.

The footpath through Earlsferry leads back to Elie and the parish church, built by Sir William Scott of Ardross Castle in the 1630's. The rather distinguished campanile was added by Sir John Anstruther in 1726. An interesting tombstone, set in the east wall of the church and dedicated to the daughter of Thomas Turnbull of Bogmill, depicts a macabre, full sized skeleton, which is swathed from shoulder to ankles in a scrolled shroud.