Turf Zone – TheBikeTrap
Hunting down unique zones again today, this time in Edinburgh. Started off in the Chesser/Saughton area and worked my way across town towards Roseburn, picking off the scattering of unique zones I still had to take in the area. As I’d already taken most of the zones, it was a time consuming and very inefficient turf session mopping them up as they were quite widely scattered. The zones I’d taken previously were ones I taken when I worked in the area before I retired. Mind you, had that feeling I’d taken some of them before but unless Turf is misbehaving, I must be mistaken. My morning session gave me 53 takes with 45 of them uniques, bringing my tally to 1959, up from 1914 yesterday.
Turf Zone – TramBridge
Weather today was mostly mild but blustery with a few heavy shower’s late morning. However, you could see them approaching from the west and could find shelter, once at Sainsbury’s in Gorgie and another time under a railway bridge near zone BirdieZone. I carried waterproof but used them infrequently. I must say hunting uniques in new areas is tough. You just don’t know the route well enough and miss those hidden wee paths that provide shortcuts, usually taking the long way round. One example, is the path from zone GoBananas that leads to Corstorphine Road and the zone at the zoo.
Turf Zone – ShandonsPipe
My trusty steed for the morning was again the single speed Harley Quinn. Wasn’t sure how I would get on today in the city, but the nimbleness of the single speed makes scooting through traffic a dawdle. That, and the lack of any serious hills made it ideal for a single speed. Having said that, however, the strong gusting wind from the west was trying at times. Taking the open and exposed zones along the tramway, are good examples.
Turf Zone – MightySteps
Another thing that makes hunting uniques time consuming are the frequent stop to check the turf app, not only to highlight which zones are unique, but also to work out the route to the zone, finding paths and even zooming in to see in detail what area the zone covers. No wonder people approach me and ask if I’m lost! Only got blocked by another turfer once today, at zone Bowlgreen, but used that as excuse to return to the car for a break and some coffee. By the time I’d finished and returned to my route, the zone was almost clear and I could continue.
Turf Zone – BalgreenTram
Lunch was on a nice sunny bench in Saughton Park, a little hidden gem of a public space. Then it was into the Balgreen, Stenhouse, Longstone and Slateford areas to mop up a few more unique zones. Final session was back along the Union Canal path taking a few more uniques. Must say I feel rather uncomfortable crossing the Prince Charlie aqueduct at Slateford. I was walking the bike but other cyclists were zooming past me.
It’s always interesting people watching in Edinburgh. Quite a few dogs taking their owners for a walk, one very large person walking along the pavement with a McDonalds in each hand taking alternate bites from them and then there was the lady in a red BMW M5 who stopped next to me at the traffic lights. I thought she looked quite stunning until she started picking her nose! Always worth people watching in Edinburgh.
I get a lot of emails landing in the Planet Gary sorting room and one such email asked for details of my turfing/cycling tool kit. A nice easy one to answer. Here you are:
- Spare Turbolito inner tube
- Turbolito puncture repair kit
- Crank Brothers multi tool
- Lezyne mini pump (small)
- Park Tools tyre levers (2)
- Disposable gloves (2)
- Chain lube, 50 ml
And to finish another example of how Harley Quinn brings joy and happiness to those she meets. I overhead a wee lad asking his mum if he can go see the rainbow bike. He then runs across and says, “Cool bike?”, then dashed back to mum. Back soon.
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