Turf Zone – BridgeOfFaith
Having decided not to risk life and broken limbs yesterday attempting Task 4 – Turfabble, where you are required to take exactly 10 or 20 zones and collect exactly 200 or 400 Turfabble points where each letter in the zone name has the same points value as the letters found in the Scrabble board game, following all-day heavy rain falling on frozen snow and black ice, I now find myself a day behind and having to catch up. I also need to complete today’s task in the Turf Scotland Advent Calendar 2023, hunting down either 5 or 10 zones with attributes.
First task this morning was to re-calculate my zone selection for Task 4 to include 5 or 10 zones with attributes. Might as well try and do both tasks together today and leave myself ready for the next exciting task tomorrow. Using the magic Excel spreadsheet kindly created by turfer \(‘<>’)/, I created a list of two sets of 10 zones, each set including 5 attributes zones each totalling the required points value of 200. My plan was to at least complete the Easy Option and have the option to continue with the Challenging Option. After rearranging the zone lists into an efficient take order, a quick copy and paste into an email and that’s the list on the mobile phone for reference in the field.
Turf Zone – NewtonChurch
Three attribute zones got me off to a good start, Pittendriech and Brixwold are bridge zones and KirkCockpen is a holy zone. Next LadyMarion, AuldChester, AuldCoal and Skeltiemuir were taken for the Turfabble points, followed by HopeBridge, another bridge zone. Then the final two, CatSchool for the Turfabble points and a final attribute zone, GeorgeWarMem, a monument zone. All 10 zones gave me the required 200 points for the Turfabble Easy task and the five attribute zones gave me the Easy Option for Task No.5, and all taken in 35 minutes, well within the 60-minutes allowed.
Next, I kept on going for both Challenging tasks, taking train station zone Eskbank, followed with CollegeZone and BikeSlooowly for Turfabble points, then SouthEsk for its bridge attribute. Dalkeith Country Park was my next target, taking zones Peppermint and
JamesTheLean for more Turfabble points along the way, then three attribute zones in a row, NewtonChurch, a holy zone, BridgeOfFaith, a bridge zone, and a final holy zone at HolyBuccleuch. Zone Slytherin finished off the required 10 zones, adding another 200 Turfabble points and completing the challenge. I was originally going to start this batch with zone Slytherin, but I was blocked by none other than ChoccyMuffin, my darling wife. Managed to take it on the way back, so no worries.
Turf Zone – Eskbank
However, all is not well. The time limit for taking the 5 attribute zones in the Challenging part of Task No. 5 was 45 minutes, and my time was 56 minutes. So, I’ve failed on that one. I reckon if I’d not combined the two challenges, I’d have been okay. Guess I should spend less time stopping to chat about my bikes! Must also mention how difficult it is, and how wrong it feels, to pass through zones without taking them. Turf torture I call it! Back with more tomorrow.
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