Turf Zone – HolyBuccleuch
With a reasonably good gap of 55,000 points between myself and the relegation zone in League 3, I’ve had a few lazy turf days, picking off a few zones here and there locally and adding a few more turfer uniques to the collection. Two trips into Edinburgh gave me five more, including Ecosse_QoS, Haliax, Dangerouslizzy, SlainteJimmy and lilsismika. Must admit I would like to meet Dangerouslizzy, the turf name sounds so intriguing.
There were others initially when I set off on the bus but they vanished to other turfers enroute. Just one of the frustrations of hunting turfer unique zones. There one minute, gone the next. Bit annoying when you’ve been travelling for 45 minutes only to find the zone taken when you get there.
Turf Zone – Restoration
Regular readers will be aware of my ongoing quest for the ultimate turfing bicycle and I’ve turned my attention to the brakes, spending yesterday installing a set of super-duper Hope RX4+ four-pot callipers on the Ribble CGR SL. But nothing is ever as easy as the provided instructions and YouTube videos would have you believe. Managed to get the front brake working reasonably well but failed dismally with the rear. In other words, the rear brake does not work at all, which is a bit of an issue when cycling, or rather stopping.
Thank goodness we have fellow turfer and bicycle repair man extraordinaire MuttsCycles, a.k.a. Scott, to call upon. The Ribble is now in his capable hands. I’m back using the single speed bike for now. Fingers crossed Scott will work his magic and I’ll be able to have brakes again. Not enjoying the anxious wait while the bike is away for repair. 🙁
Turf Zone – RailWaggons
Today, another turfer unique and a good example of how challenging it can be to get there first. The zone in question is TheOldCourse, held by ForthPirate, a turf name I’ve never seen before which is not surprising as this is a newcomer to the game. I did the usual checks before cycling off down to Musselburgh, checking just about every hour in fact. No point if the zone has been taken. So, here we are, merrily cycling down towards Musselburgh when I notice two other turfers have appeared in the area. Bugger! That was my exact thought, even with the exclamation mark.
Right, better put pedal to the metal in case either of them is planning on taking that zone. And do bear in mind I’m still 3 miles away as the crow flies, more if you include all the squiggly-wiggly sections along the route. Even decided to forgo taking any zones along the way, better to get there asap rather than lose time taking a few more zones.
Turf Zone – CapMuir
By the time I’d reached the outskirts of Musselburgh, I could see that both turfers were not heading towards the zone. Much relief on my part and I could relax a little. I should say I’m on the single speed bike today, so no gears and my legs were fair a blur spinning those pedals. Must have been quite a sight to the dog walkers I passed along the path. But soon, the zone was taken and I could now enjoy the rest of the day. A message popup up on the Turf app, from turfer Cruachan. TvT ing?, it said. Cruachan hadn’t spotted that zone TheOldCourse was a turfer unique. Got there just in time.
Next stop was Prestongrange Museum. I wanted to get a booklet at the wee café. It was called The Scottish Brick Industry by Moses Jenkins. Saw it the other day but didn’t have any way to carry it on the bike, but have my rucksack today. Enjoyed another coffee and orange and chocolate muffin. After that, a hard cycle to Fisherrow Harbour against some serious headwinds before back home to Bonnyrigg.
One thing to note abut viewing Turfer v Turfer stats on Warded is that the figure in the total column is not entirely accurate. You need to exclude any turfers showing 0 in the total takeovers column. As I write it shows 408 but 38 of those are 0, so 370 is the accurate number of unique turfers I’ve taken a zone from. Back soon.
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