From sinner

The origins of the Pier Walk are veiled in obscurity though most people believe it was started to commemorate the heroism of John Honey, a student of the university. In 1800 he rescued five men from a ship sinking in St Andrews Bay. Five times he swam out and each time he returned with a rescued man.

Whatever its origins, the Pier Walk is one of the oldest traditions in St Andrews. Every Sunday, after chapel service, students in their gowns walk down to the end of the pier, climb up the ladder and walk back along the top. Doesn't sound too interesting, does it? Try and picture the scene - the wind is howling in off the sea, your gown is flapping, whipping back and forth, pulling you around, and a drop onto rocks (or, if you're lucky and they're not, onto your fellow Pier Walkers) awaits if you make a mistake. All in all, the Pier Walk certainly adds spice to a Sunday morning stroll.

Did I mention yet that the highest part of the pier is also the narrowest part? In the past, students have been blown clean off the pier and never seen again. Hmmm, that might be a slight exaggeration. What isn't an exaggeration is that no one leaves St Andrews without doing the Pier Walk at least once (be it on the Sunday morning or not).

Incidentally, despite the fact that he was a philosophy student, the university named their computer building after John Honey. Such is life.