Turf Zone – Bonnyrigg
Should I stay or should I go? Those were the words echoing in my head at dinner time. Should I cycle down to Musselburgh, hoping that the two turfer unique zones I’d noticed would still be there, or would I “clash” with the other two turfers who were out turfing in the area? The two turfer uniques were Dazzler and Bigguy48, both located at zones in Lewisvale Park. However, two turfers were actually active in Musselburgh, Cruachan and Bigguy48.
Bigguy48 seemed to be a recent convert to this fine game and only held a handful of zones. On the other hand, Cruachan is an old hand and my main concern. Was he going to “clear” all the zones in Musselburgh which would mean I’d lose the turfer uniques. The time was 5:30 pm and I decided to wait until 6:00 pm and see what he does. I also needed to let my dinner settle before jumping on the bike for a frantic cycle down to Musselburgh.
Using that time, I checked out what Cruachan had been doing, using various online turf data tools to study his form and order of takes. This revealed that he might possibly be heading for home and by 6:00 pm I noticed him approaching his house on the sea front. When he finally signed off, I was fairly happy that cycling down to Musselburgh for those two turfer uniques would be fruitful. My investigation also showed that Cruachan already had the same two turfer uniques I was after, so would not be specifically hunting them this evening. Turfer Bigguy48 had also signed off.
My Ribble CGR SL bicycle was already kitted out with lights, so that was my steed for the evening. The trip down to Musselburgh, located at the coast, is almost always an easy cycle, following the River Esk downstream, therefor mostly downhill all the way, well, roughly speaking, there are a few small inclines but nothing to bother about. The elevation falls about 60m over the five miles. Now, that’s an interesting figure, that 60 m, it’s also the same figure used by NASA when they estimate how far sea level would rise if all the ice caps and glaciers should melt. Might need to trade the car for a boat!
It’s twilight, the time of the day when the day watch is getting ready to turn in and the night watch are just waking up. It also that time of day when the light is fading away, neither light nor dark, that in-between-ness when shapes are indistinct and what you think is someone approaching on the cycle path turns out to be a combination of sign post, litter bin and a plastic bag flapping in the wind. I much prefer either total darkness or total light. Perhaps it’s just me getting old. But thank goodness for good LED bike lights!
On the topic of bike lights, I get annoyed at some cyclists who run very bright LED light without any consideration for other cyclists or pedestrians. Personally, I have my lights adjusted so that I can easily tilt them downwards so I don’t dazzle or blind other path users. I rarely use the full 1000 lumens I have available, finding that the low/medium settings are more than adequate, even on the darkest of woodland trails. That also gives me plenty of burn time as well.
Took about 30 zones along the route, stopping occasionally to check the turfer uniques were still there. I’d be cursing any turfer who took them while I was cycling down. Even worse, taking them just as I was approaching the zones. Might voice a few choice sweary words in that instance. However, not to forget it’s all part of the game and I have no more right to turfer unique zones that any other turfer.
I’d left the house 6:15 pm and took the first of the turfer uniques at 7:10 pm, though I’d have been quicker not stopping to take those 30 zones along the way. Might have shaved around 20-minutes of the journey time, perhaps leaving the zones to take on the way back. However, my evening mission was successful with two further turfer uniques added to the collecting, thus bringing my tally to 446. Back soon. Did you get the reference to the 1982 song by the Clash?
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