In pictures: University of St Andrews students take part in annual Gaudie and May Dip traditions

They braved the chilly waters as fog descended over the town.

The annual tradition sees students from the University of St Andrews make their way down to East Sands at sunrise on May Day and collectively run into the North Sea.

The Dip is intended to bring good luck to students in their exams and cleanse any academic sins. It is also the only cure for the legendary curse of Patrick Hamilton.

Hamilton was a church reformer who was executed in the town in 1528 and the curse is believed to cause students to fail their exams.

Students took part in the Gaudie, a torchlit procession and pier walk, on Tuesday evening.

The traditional Gaudie, which takes place the evening before the May Dip, took a different route than usual this year.

The procession moved along the harbour’s lower cross pier with the main pier currently closed off due to the damage caused by Storm Babet last October.

The Gaudie is held to commemorate John Honey, a student who in 1800 rescued members of the crew of the Janet of Macduff which had run aground off the East Sands.

Every year, students process by candlelight, led by a piper, to the East Sands and lay a wreath at the site of the shipwreck.