Turf Blog 18-01-25

Turf Zone – TweedCrossing

Friday 17th January and we were off down to Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders. By we, I refer to myself, ChoccyMuffin, my Brompton Mr Orange and another Brompton which might be Mr Green or Mr Lime or Mr Yuzu but this has yet to be established. Our plan was to start in Innerleithen, cycle the bikes up the railway path to Peebles, tick of a few unique zones for Choccy, have a picnic lunch then return to Innerleithen for a few more unique zones. And that is exactly what we did.

Turf Zone – ScottBrash

The lovely mild weather we have had the past few days was now turning colder and I’d underestimated how chill the wind was as it hurtled down the Tweed valley. I really could have done with another layer of clothing but thankfully had stowed my waterproof jacket in the bag and that made all the difference. I’m a bit annoyed with myself for my poor planning but there you go.

Turf Zone – NotCorona

Apart from a chilly start, the ride was otherwise okay, at least once I got warmed up and away from the wind. We each took around 36 zones (Choccy got 37, of course) and we enjoyed our lunch at Tweed Green, on a bench overlooking the River Tweed. We actually lived in Peebles for 15-years and enjoyed exploring some of our old haunts on the Brompton’s. One stop was at our old flat. It’s located in Cross Street, No 28A, directly opposite the Cross Kirk, where the zone of the same name can be found.

Turf Zone – HopeSoon

As we stopped to look for any changes to the flat, we met an old lady who was the brother of one of our neighbours at the time and she updated us on some of the changes since we moved to Bonnyrigg, over 20-years ago now. Interestingly, our old flat had been sold many times and a new couple were in the process of moving in. I was able to help them locate the mains stop cock. All very strange seeing the old flat after all those years.

Turf Zone – ForeBridge

Today, Saturday 18th January, ChoccyMuffin was away playing golf so I decided to cycle across towards Penicuik and collect a few unique zones of my own. There was one in Penicuik, one in Bilston and the third on Roslyn. But my first hurdle was how to get there as the resurfacing work on the Penicuik to Dalkeith Path was still in progress and it was unknown of the path was actually open to traffic. It was, though a few areas still remained to be resurfaced.

After taking zone Belwood, the unique in Penicuik, I looked at the Turf app and noticed that some other uniques in the Penland Hills were not all that far away and it seemed a shame not to at least try for a few of them while I was so close. However, while I was riding a suitable off-road bike, my Sonder Broken Road, it was loaded with a rear rack and panniers, so not really kitted out for tackling the steep climbs of the Pentlands. But ho-hum, let’s give it a go.

Turf Zone – BurnBridge

My route brought me out on the A702 near House Of Muir Steading, where a handy track gave me an easy if somewhat muddy downhill to zone BurnBridge, which straddles the Glencorse Burn. I must admit I was surprised how busy the place was with walkers and cyclists out for stroll. Next zone was LogansRun, which reminds me of the 1976 film Logan’s Run, and more specifically a young Jenny Agutter. Well, I was a 15-year-old teenager at the time.

The next zone I decided to go for was called ThinkPizza, which has me totally baffled regards the naming convention. Reaching this zone requires some ascent and with the track recently regraded with sharp angular rock, gravel and for some unknown reason, sticky mud, it was no easy cycle, even in the lowest of gears. Having not been this way before I was getting my first taste of the Pentland Hills. I think I’ll come back in the summer when it’s drier. If the Pentland Hills actually get drier in summer.

There were another couple of enticing zones ahead of me, MidMaiden and MaidenZone but those are for another day when I’m properly equipped, i.e. with a stripped-down lighter weight bike. So, it was back down towards the reservoir and another very steep climb through a narrow shelter-belt conifer wood to zone InterlopersX. What weird and wonderful zone names we have in the Pentland Hills. I should admit I did not cycle any of this section, it was pushing the bike all the way uphill.

Turf Zone – ThinkPizza

And at the top, my first encounter with the most bike unfriendly gate I’ve come across. Not only was it too small for allow a bike to pass through the old-style kissing gate but it looked a rear challenge with a loaded bike, However, some passing lads helped me out. My final Pentland Hills zone today was Castlelaw, an easy cycle from here now that I’d gained some height. Met a nice lady at the hill fort and chatted to her about turf, handing out a Planet Gary card for her to look check out the game of turf. She had a wee Dachshund called Bernie.

Mission accomplished as far as the Pentlands were concerned, I zoomed downhill and made my way through Milton Bridge and along to Bilston, for another unique zone, FeTaToToA, named after a turfer I think. And the final unique was in Roslyn at zone StripeyBack. This brought my Midlothian count to 436 out of 478, leaving only another 42 to go. Most of those are in the Pentland Hills with one rather challenging zone GladOfASwim, in Gladhouse Reservoir. Think I’ll purchase a kayak for that one!

Copyright ©2025 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.

This entry was posted in Turf. Bookmark the permalink.