I sent an email last night to Skadi, Norse Goddess of Winter and politely asked if she might be able to do something about the overnight frosts that are interfering with my turfing activities. In return, I promised to supply her with some rare triple chocolate KitKats that she loves. However, she must have been out turfing and didn’t check her email so the dawn broke to reveal a covering of frost and icy footpaths and roads. No turfing by bike for me today. However, all was not lost as my new walking boots had arrived, a pair of Karrimor Hot Rock, found new online for half price, and in a fetching blue colour.
My plan this day was to take a stroll up to the Newtongrange area and grab a few more zones. I also wanted to check out some new zone suggestions I’d made, that were now live online. Wanted to make sure there wasn’t any issues I’d not foreseen and report them if required.
Turf zone – StoneGate
My route first took me to StoneGate, an impressive entrance gateway leading to what would have once been the grounds of Newbattle Abbey, collecting 185 points. Next along the very busy A7 road, under the railway viaduct and upstream along the River South Esk to take another zone suggestion, ByEskWeir, also for 185 points. The weir was flowing well with snowmelt and once diverted water for a nearby small-scale hydro-electric station. You will hear the rumble of this one before you see it and it’s well worth the slight detour to see the falls. Try not to fall in though!
Turf zone – ByEskWeir
Continuing onwards, the path takes me past GroveFarm and Dalhousie, both for 185 points each. Then, rather than following the noisy road, I trudged up a muddy path through the woods to BlowLoun (185 points), which dates from the 13th Century. However, I forgotten about the security fencing that prevents access and have reported the issue for correction. (Note 07-01-21: zone has been repositioned until the work is completed)
My path now turned north, heading towards Newtongrange, picking up points for Butlerfield (170 points), Cockpen (185 points), MatthewJenks (185 points) and Squirrelly (185 points). Then along very icy paths to Newtongrange Railway Station for WhyMurderDean (170 points) and Newtongrange (170 points).
Turf zone – Newtongrange
Four further zones were nearby, so it seemed a shame not to take them. So, MinerMemorial (170 points) fell first, then WelfarePark (170 points), a footbridge across the railway gave me NewtonsBridge (185 points) and VickysGardens (185 points) was ticked off in a housing estate. With Turf, there is always just another zone you can take and you could easily find yourself keeping on taking zones forever.
With my planned zones all taken, I then headed back towards Bonnyrigg and some lunch. Turfing on foot is very time consuming and I would have much preferred using a bike but it’s all part of the fun and good exercise to boot. I also made a slight detour to revisit KirkCockpen, for half points, and to take a picture for the blog.
Turf zone – KirkCockpen
Not far from home now and my route took me past a couple of zones I’d lost to Rossewan yesterday, Brixwold (170 points) and Pittendriech (170 points). Good to see an alert on the mobile that my rank was now Rank 16 – Novice Adventurer, another rung in the turfing ladder. My round total for January was now over 13,300 and my overall total was over 57,600. Carry on turfing!
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