Turf Blog 15-01-25

Turf Zone – Spitfire

It’s a pleasant change to turf somewhere different, away from the over-familiar local patch of Midlothian and enjoy the opportunity to collect a few unique zones. And today, I’m in Kirkliston, a small village to the west of Edinburgh, though now perhaps more a small town with all the new housing to the north adding to the population and urban sprawl. My starting point for the day was actually at Ingliston Park and Ride at Edinburgh Airport, which offers free parking and a good central base for today’s turf session.

Turf Zone – PlaneBridge

My plan was to start with the zones in and around Edinburgh Airport, then make my way to Kirkliston with an option to continue to Winchburgh later if I felt like it. As well as looking for uniques, I was also after some monument zones, with one at the airport, another in Kirkliston and another optional one in Winchburgh.

Cycling into the airport for the two zones was not a pleasant experience, too many buses and private hire cars rushing about as well as car drivers not knowing where they were going. Traffic on the access road was far too fast and I’m happy to know I’ll probably not be back here again, unless a new zone appears, of course. No cycle route provision at all at the airport, unless I missed the signs. I ignored the signs saying authorised vehicles only but no-one bothered about this cyclist, even the police who were chatting by the zone ignored me.

Turf Zone – HulyHill

Next, the busy A8 took me to Newbridge, thankfully on the pavement, now a shared walking and cycleway. No way would I have cycled along the dual carriageway, even if it is legal to do so, that would be near suicide. There was a zone I wanted to visit in Newbridge, one called HulyHill. I’ve actually been here before many years ago when I had a web site called Ancient Stones, where I visited and recorded sites like standing stones, stone circles, mark stones, named stones and the like. HulyHill is actually a burial mound with the remains of a stone circle. It’s also a scheduled ancient monument, so perhaps the zone is worthy of the monument attribute?

Turf Zone – TheWilderness

To reach Kirkliston, I followed a very rough and muddy old railway line, once the South Queensferry Branch line, picking off a few zones along the way and also very thankful that I’d brought the general purpose Ribble CGR bike rather than Mr Orange, the Brompton. Not sure Mr Orange and his small skinny wheels would have coped well with the conditions. Yes, it would do the job but not with any degree of comfort or speed.

Turfing Kirkliston was very enjoyable, but with the usual frustrations of turfing a new area, one you are not familiar with. I’ve only even passed through Kirkliston in the car and had no knowledge of the town beyond the main road. However, managed reasonably well, only a few dead ends and one backtrack for a zone I’d missed completely, a zone called TheWilderness. Found a nice sheltered bench for lunch at zone HolyKirk.

Turf Zone – HolyKirk

After ticking off a couple of outlying zones on the Stirling road, it was back down to Newbridge and Ratho Station to tick off a few more isolated outlying zones. One zone I visited called Interrail, must surely get the vote as one of the most depressing and unpleasant zones I’ve visited for a while. It’s located under the Edinburgh and Glasgow Main Railway Line with the thundering M8 motorway a discarded beer can’s throw away. I didn’t linger for long, just enough time to take the zone and a photo. Some dodgy looking nerds hanging about as well. By the way, Ratho Station, doesn’t have one, a railway station that is.

Turf Zone – Interrail

For my final handful of zones, I followed the busy A8 again, this time eastwards towards Edinburgh, for the zones at the massive Royal Bank of Scotland HQ at Gogarburn. Only the four of them and all easily taken. Lots of people wandering about here and not one of them looked very happy. Actually, one lady did reply to my greeting but she was leaving the place. Perhaps that why she looked happy?

Turf Zone – BankBridge

I usually find that turfing new areas is very inefficient, obviously down to not knowing exactly where the zones are, or how to reach them efficiently. Lots of stopping to plan the route also takes up time. This probably explains why I only got 42 zones in 3.5 hours cycling. However, a most enjoyable day with another two monument zones bringing my total to 72. Only another 28 required for the Monumental medal. Even felt like spring at times. Back soon.

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