Unofficial Medals

Having largely run out of achievable Turf medals to try for, I thought it might be interesting to create a few unofficial virtual Turf medals to go for. Note that they will not appear as part of Turf or show up in the Turf app when you take them. They are just a bit of personal fun for myself and anyone else who wants to have a go. Revisits are allowed in all medals unless noted otherwise below.

2-in-1 and 3-in-1
Take either two or three zones within 60 seconds. Time starting after the first zone is taken. That’s all there is to it!

28 Minutes Before
This medal is more of a personal turf challenge than a defined un-official Planet Gary turfing medal but who cares. You need to be brave and daring to tackle this one as it takes its name as the sequel to the two renowned zombie apocalypse films, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, both directed by Danny Boyle. Your task for the 28 Minutes Before medal is to take as many zones as you can within 28 minutes. Your time starting after the first take. But there’s a catch, each zone take only counts as long as there are no zombies within the zone area. A zombie can be anyone, man, woman, child, bicycle repair persons, other turfers, and so on. Even dogs, cats, hamsters and especially, for some unknown reason, sheep, can be zombies, so be careful out there. Good luck. Tackling this medal at night between the hours of midnight and 4.00 am is most highly recommended.

All Night Turfer
This medal is awarded to the crazy turfer who starts turfing at sunset and does not finish until sunrise. That’s all there is to it. Tip: nights are shorter in the summer.

Aurora borealis
Nice easy one this. Simply go out turfing and take any number of zones when you can see the Aurora borealis or Northern lights.

Bing Bagging
You’ve heard about Munro Bagging but have you heard about Bing Bagging? These medals require you to take turf zones located on bings, essentially waste spoil heaps from coal mining and oil shale production. There are medals available for 5, 10, 15 and 20 takes.

Borders Railway
For this medal all you need do is take all 9 railway station zones on the Borders Railway, between Edinburgh and Tweedbank. However, there’s a catch, you must take all 9 of them from inside the train. Quite possibly easier said than done. Good luck.

Daily Dozen
You might have come across the Daily Five, taking five zones each day, for either 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 or 365 days. But what happens who you reach day 365? What can I do now you ask yourself? Well, you can now do the Daily Dozen. Same idea as the Daily Five but just add a few more zones each day. To gain these unofficial medals just take a dozen zones (that’s 12 zones) each day for either 10, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 or 365 days. Enjoy.

Dare To Bare
Yes, this is actually an official unofficial Planet Gary turfing medal. All you need to do for this prestigious award is take either 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200 or 250 zones, while clothes free. Yes, up to an amazing 250 zones, and that must be done while clothes free, starkers, in your birthday suit, au natural, skyclad, in the nuddy or whatever term you may prefer. The how, where, when and quite possibly, the why, are all up to you. Happy dare to bare turfing.

Easter Sunday
Want to burn off a few calories from all those chocolate eggs you’ve just scoffed? Then why not go for the East Sunday Turf Challenge medal. Medals are available for 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 zones. Only available on Easter Sunday which changes every year so you will need to look it up.

Fairy Tinkerbell
This medal requires you to take zones with each of the different Takeover Points/+PPH values available, as many as you can. There are nine in total available, 185p/+1, 170p/+2, 155p/+3, 140p/+4, 125p/+5, 110p/+6, 95p/+7, 80p/+8 and 65p/+9.

The lowest/highest Takeover Points/+PPH value in Scotland is 80p/+8 and can be found in Edinburgh city centre. However, these values are changing all the time and the missing value 65p/+9, might appear one day. The name of this unofficial medal is taken from the automated systems, Fairy and Tinkerbell, that adjust the zone Takeover and PPH points values. Warded offers a useful tool to determine zone values. Good luck.

Midlothian A2Z
The Midlothian A2Z requires you to take 26 zones in alphabetical order. The first zone must start with the letter A, the next zone the letter B, and so on, all the way to a zone starting with the letter Z. No other zones should be taken between the letter zones.

Nature Watch
Your task for this medal is to identify different species of animal from within turf zones. There are medals available for 5, 10 and, this is perhaps something of a long shot, 25 animals. Animals can be wild, tame or domestic, be they Badass the Badger, Hooray Henry the Horse, Mickey le Moose, Hardcore the Hamster, Shaun the Sheep, Raunchy the Rabbit, Happy Harriet the Highland Haggis or even an escaped animal from the zoo. All count as long as they are witnessed from within a turf zone. Each species of animal only counts once and no limit to the number of zones used. Should be fun and quite possibly a mighty challenge as well.

Night Owl
The Night Owl medal was created to encourage turfers to get out of their cosy beds and go turfing in the middle of the night. It might also be a good one for those lucky turfers who already hold all the Dark Ninja medals. The requirements are simple, take 100 zones between midnight and 4:00 am.

Region Medals
It’s a shame that there are no official medals available for taking all the zones in any of the Scottish Regions (known as municipalities in Turf). The only medal available is for winning a round in Scotland as a whole, not any of the separate regions. However, on Planet Gary, anything can happen, so I’ve created some unofficial medals to encourage myself to do just that, take all the zones in the regions. Medals are available for Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian, Fife and Edinburgh.

Seven Hills
There are 4 different medals in this collection and all present a real challenge to the turfer. Each requires you to take zoners om the seven highest points in each region. The four regions are Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian. Details of the actual zones can be found here.

Road Closed
The Road Closed medal has been created for the more adventurous turfer, one who thinks nothing of braving even the most challenging of weather conditions. To be awarded the Road Closed medal you need to take either 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 zones when snow is falling. Blizzards are ideal but any snow falling will do. See also Snowman next.

Snowman
The Snowman medal is simply to encourage you to get out turfing in adverse weather, in this instance, when snow is lying on the ground. It is designed to test your courage, level of personal daftness and how good your winter clothing is. The use of bicycles is highly encouraged (for added wheel-spinning fun!) Medals are available for taking 10, 25, 50, 75 or 100 zones.

The John Muir Way
The John Muir Way is a long distance way-marked route between Dunbar in East Lothian and Helensburgh in Argyll and Bute, a distance of some 215 Km or 134-miles. Your challenge is to take an many zones as you can long this route. Medals are available for 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 zones. Good luck.

The Fife Coastal Path
The Fife Coastal Path runs 183 Km or 114-miles down the coast of the Firth of Forth from Newburgh to Kincardine. Your challenge is to take an many zones as you can long this route. Medals are available for 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 zones. Happy turfing.

The Grand Turf
You are permitted all legal forms of transport when turfing, including the motor vehicle. In this challenge you are only allowed to use a motor vehicle, such as a car, and are not allowed to leave that vehicle to take the zones. Medals are available for 5, 10, 25 and 50 zones.

Turfoween
This medal is for those exceedingly brave turfers who are willing to venture out turfing on All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, and face the ghostly ghosts, ghoulish ghouls, wicked witches and those annoying trick or treaters. There are five medals available for turfers who manage to take 10, 20, 30, 40 or 50 zones and live to tell the tale. Turfoween takes place only on 31st October each year.

Turf Ranger
For this turf zone challenge you only need to take one single zone, however, there’s a twist. You need to spend the night in the zone either camping with a tent, using a bivvy bag or just a basha or tarpaulin, whatever you choose.

Valentine Day
Nice and simple unofficial Planet Gary medal for you to try on Valentine Day. All you need do is go out and take some zones. Medals are available for 5, 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 zones. Only available on the 14th of February.

Water Of Leith Walkway
For this medal you must travel the entire 13-mile length of the Water of Leith Walkway, from start to finish, taking all the zones you encounter along the way. You have the choice to start at Leith and finish in Balerno, or the other way round if you want. Any means of transport is permitted. There are around 60 zones in total.

Birding Medals
These medals might present something of a challenge if you are not into birds but that shouldn’t stop you having a go. All you need do is select up to 10 zones and identify either 10, 25 0r 50 different species of bird while you are standing within the zones. A good tip is to use a notebook, or your mobile phone, to record your sightings and a bird field guide or mobile phone app, may also be useful. Green anoraks optional!

• Birder – identify 10 different species of bird at no more than 10 zones.
• Twitcher – identify 25 different species of bird at no more than 10 zones.
• Ornithologist – identify 50 different species of bird at no more than 10 zones.

Bridge Zone Medals
This medal could not be easier. Just identify a few zones with the Bridge attribute and go and take them. That’s all there is to it. You can identify which zones have the Bridge attribute on the Urbangeeks website. Just use the tag filter.

• Bridge Spotter – take 10 zones with the Bridge Zone attribute.
• Bridge Master – take 20 zones with the Bridge Zone attribute.

Ghost Minute Medals
The three medals below are an extension on the official Ghost Minute medal, where you take a Holy Zone between 12.00 midnight and 12:01. All you need to do is repeat that at either 5, 10 or 20 different Holy Zones, that’s a zone with the Holy attribute. You can identify which zones have the Holy attribute on the Urbangeeks website. Revisits are not allowed for this medal.

• Ghost Hunter – complete a Ghost Minute at 5 different holy zones.
• Ghost Buster – complete a Ghost Minute at 10 different holy zones.
• Ghost Chaser – complete a Ghost Minute at 20 different holy zones.

Holy Zone Medals
For these medals simply visit zones that have the Holy attribute. You can identify which zones have the Holy attribute on the Urbangeeks website. Revisits are not allowed for this medal. These zones can be visited at any time. Note if you complete the Ghost Minute medals above, you also complete these Holy Zone medals.

• Grail Knight – take 5 different zones with the Holy Zone attribute.
• Grail Lord – take 10 different zones with the Holy Zone attribute.
• Holy Grail – take 20 different zones with the Holy Zone attribute.

Train Station Medals
The Train Station medals simply require you to visit zones with the Train Station attribute. Again, you can identify which zones have the Train Station attribute on the Urbangeeks website.

• Trainspotter – take 5 different zones with the Train Station attribute.
• Station Master – take 10 different zones with the Train Station attribute.

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