A couple of days into the new year, we drove up to the north-east coast of Fife for a walk in a nature reserve, through pine forest to sand dunes and a long, sandy beach. We've spent time in Fife around Hogmanay for the past few years; this year we couldn't stay longer, for various reasons, but I'm glad we managed this annual ritual of walking through cold, winter sea air.
The first part of our walk followed a trail through pine trees, where I stopped frequently to photograph the patches of light falling through the canopy.
After about 20 minutes of walking, we reached this 'Ice House' (above). My very in-extensive Google search tells me it was built around 1852, and would have been used to preserve catches of salmon in ice gathered locally during the winter.
From the Ice House, we followed a path towards the dunes, and beyond that, the beach.
Another quick Google implies that this tower in the dunes was originally used during World War II to observe bombing practice on the nearby beach.
There were patches of snow (or ice) on the beach, which just shows how cold it was that day.
Once we reached the water, we stopped for hot drinks from our flasks. It's roughly ten years since we first started going on walks together, and I think one of our very first outings was also a walk at a nature reserve, involving flasks of tea and my partner's amazing homemade cheese scones...
After a walk further up the beach in search of seals (we saw some distant shapes - not confirmed) we turned around for the car park before closing time at sunset. My fingers protested as I photographed some things that caught my eye along the way...
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