Turf Zone – SeeLeaderfoot
Well, that was a tough session. Only 29 zones taken in just over 3-hours but that’s what you get when you visit the Scottish Borders. They make you work for your zones in part of the Scottish Borders and I should know as that’s where I hail from, Selkirk to be exact. Not that I’m complaining, it was a very enjoyable trip and I managed to get those four final Monument zones to complete that Monument medal. Mission accomplished.
My day started at Leaderfoot, by the River Tweed near Melrose, which offers easy parking on the old road to Newstead. First zone of the day was only a few minutes freewheel from the car, zone SeeLeaderfoot. However, the next one required considerably more effort. It’s a long slow climb to zone ScottsView, named after Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford and not our very own Scott of MuttsCycles, as some people might believe. And steep hills with cold muscles is never a good idea. However, the reward is the amazing view towards the Eildon Hills and having cycled to get there I understand why Sir Walter Scott used horsepower.
Turf Zone – TempleOfMuses
Next, an easier ride to zone BigWallace, an imposing statue to William Wallace of Braveheart fame. Mind you, it looks nothing like Mel Gibson, even on a good day. Fine views of the Eildon Hills from here as well. No need to re-join the road from here, there’s a dirt path leading downhill to Dryburgh. Two zones there, DryburghAbbey, which requires paid admission, and zone TempleOfMuses, which doesn’t. I took that latter, not because I’m a stingy Scot, but because I didn’t have any money with me. Zones BigWallace and TempleOfMuses gave me two of my required Monument zones for the Monument medal.
Turf Zone – BigWallace
The next zone on the itinerary was ToTheNewTown, located near the Tweed Horizons Centre, one of my sites when I worked IT for Scottish Enterprise Borders. And having been warned by Scott of Muttscycles about the questionable conditions under foot, or rather, under wheel, I ignored his fair advice and went there anyway. Path requires a fair bit of pushing and carrying, lots of steps, roots and rocks, which is one of the reasons why keeping the weight of your bike as low as reasonably possible is a good idea. Conditions were fairly dry, which makes thing easier, and cleaner.
Two zones down the River Tweed to St. Boswells next. Now, the path starts off not too bad but later on, is another matter. I did come a cropper when a tree root suddenly dashed into my path and I ended up in the bushes. Tried to put afoot down but there was only air underfoot, so over I went. Nothing hurt but my pride and the bike was okay. So, be warned, this route, for those washing to take zones Tweedelidoo and BoswellPath, has just about everything you don’t want when cycling, narrow sections, rocks and roots, narrow walkways, slippery wooden steps, narrow wooden bridges, massive boulders and even more steps. Not a path you would want to attempt riding a 30kg e-bike. The path was also fairly dry but would likely be a mud bath in wet weather.
After successfully reaching St Boswells, and not falling into the river, turfed the town’s two zones in about 3 minutes, before heading up to nearby Newtown St Boswells, which has four zones, yes, that’s four zones. And the best part is that zone TownMemorial has the Monument attribute. This brought my Monument total to 49, leaving one more to find. And that required more climbing, this time along the now closed to vehicular traffic road we used to call the Bogle Burn. When I was younger, and less sensible, we used to drive fast down the Bogle Burn, feel the amazing g-forces at the bottom, then zoom up the other side. It was great fun. Not quite the same on a bicycle.
Should also mention that zone DonkeyHeaven, gave me another animal towards one of my own unofficial PlanetGary medals, the NatureWatch-25. As the zone name suggests, donkeys. This brings my count to 15 mammals. Really should make an effort to find those other 10 animals and get that one sorted. And that final zone for the Monument medals was RhymersStone. Always a delight to see a medal popup on the phone screen. Now I need to start collecting the next 50 Monument zones for the Monumental medal. That is going to take some time and effort!
Turf Zone – Leaderfoot
The sleepy village of Newstead and the fields of Trimontium, the site of a Roman fort and settlement, provided another dozen or so zones, the last zone of the session was zone Leaderfoot, located on, and also beneath, the disused railway viaduct of the same name. Unfortunately, there is no way to take the zone from above, at least not without risking life and limb, as you can see from the image above. However, it is easy to access underneath from the bridges at Leaderfoot, though I had to jump the barbed wire fence to get into the zone. Don’t know why they don’t open it up as a cycle path?
Today’s turf session brought my Unique zone count to 2458, only 42 zones short of the Unique 2500 medal. I had originally thought about nipping down to Jedburgh, but an aching back was telling me that was enough for the day. And Jedburgh only has 28 zones in total. Might combine that with a trip to Kelso another day. And finally, I seem to have added another two turfer uniques to the collection, MikeP and HissingSid, which is a surprise as I’d forgot to check if there was any in the area. Back with more soon. Keep on turfing.
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