Recently, I’ve been posting a few pages about bikes, called Bike Blogs, as you might expect. I’ve also been posting pages about Turf, Turf Blogs as you probably can surmise. But when the post concerns both bikes and turf, I have a dilemma, which blog section do I post under, Bike Blogs or Turf Blogs? I know, I’ll write the pages first, then decide. But you know already which one it will be because you are reading this post.
As it’s now January and the start of another year, time to plan out a few mini turf adventures, something to keep me interested beyond the same old slog of simply taking zones all the time. And the new kid on the block that has me excited about these mini turf adventures is the arrival of my single speed to be Brompton C Line Urban folding bike. I say single speed to be because it comes with gears as standard and I’ll be converting it to a single speed. Yes, crazy, I know.
I’ve found that turfing on the Brompton, that’s the other one, Mr Orange, a C Line Explore model, has given me a new outlook on turfing. The Brompton is quirky, odd to look at and attracts a lot of attention but is amazingly good fun to ride, handles well and scoots about town like a Jack Russel terrier chasing rats, or cats, or cyclist’s trouser legs. To my mind, it just lends itself to mini turf adventures. So, what are these going to be?
The Seven Hills of Edinburgh
This takes the turfer around the traditional seven hills located across the City of Edinburgh which started off as an annual foot race and has been adopted as an unofficial turf challenge. More on that on the ESOC website. My hope is to better the time of 4h 13m 27s I did back in Turf Blog 01-07-22 on my Swifty Air kick scooter. Should be fun. The seven hills are:
- Calton Hill, 103m, zone CaltonHill
- The Castle or Castle Hill, 128m, zone HillGate
- Corstorphine Hill, 162m, zone TheHillTower
- Craiglockhart Hill (East), 158m, zone Craighill
- Braid Hill, 213m, zone BraidView
- Blackford Hill, 164m, zone BlackfordHill
- Arthur’s Seat, 251m, zone ArthursSeat
The Water of Leith Walkway
The Water of Leith Walkway runs from the coast at Leith all the way to Balerno, about 12 miles distant. I’ve done this walk by bike and by kick scooter and it’s a very pleasant route, though can be busy at times, particularly in the city centre areas. Surfaces very from smooth tarmac to muddy paths but all quite rideable on a bike, even on a small wheeled Brompton. The round trip is 24 miles which might seem a lot but if start from Leith and go upstream, the return is downhill all the way. There are about 60 zones along the route with many others close to the route.
Loch Leven Heritage Trail
The Loch Leven Heritage Trail is a 12-mile route that follows a complete circuit of Loch Leven, in Fife. There are 34 zones actually on the route with more in nearby Kinross. The surface is mostly hard-pack gravel with one hill at Vane Farm RSPB centre but other than that an easy cycle. I’ve done this by bike, and on the kick scooter, so should be easy enough on the Brompton.
The Loanhead Ferret Run
Back on Turf Blog 28-05-24, I managed an Eager ferret time of 7:45, my best to date and while I don’t think I’ll be able to better that on the Brompton single speed, it will definitely be fun trying. The Loanhead Ferret Run starts at zone RoslinCopse, located on the Roslin to Shawfair cycle path and ends at zone SkippingZone about 2.50 km later. Looking forward to this one.
Of course, there are a few other ideas as well. For example, sections of the John Muir Way, the Fife Coastal Path, the Union Canal and so on, all offering interesting turf challenges, not only for this crazy turfer on a Brompton but all other turfers as well. So, get out there and have some fun!
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