The adventure begins

Coming up to my second turfiversary, I was falling out of love with Turf. I think the concept is great, but the competitive gameplay is not my thing. I'm not going to go into detail because for some it is, and that's fine, but it's not for me. Turf has two draws for me now: getting fit and exploring new places.

Why?

When I joined Turf in December 2020 I was hoping for a way to get fit, get outdoors and have fun. It worked out in ways I never expected. My goals mid 2020 were to be the first person to take 10,000 uniques entirely in Scotland and to win a gold medal.

Others pointed out the difficulty in taking 10,000 zones when there are only 9,500 and I thought that a gold medal was realistically very improbable. I put that down to something that might happen, but probably wouldn't.

And then there was September 2021. Halfway through the round someone asked me if I was going for a gold medal. I wasn't. I was trying to help get Scotland over the line in the regional competition but the effort was looking very likely to be enough. And so it was.

For me then it was back to work, proper work. For the next fifteen months this dominated my life. I was no longer cycling, becoming very unfit and longing to get out and about again. I needed a reset.

Ambition

Back to my current goals. Getting fit and exploring. I don't want another challenge, but an adventure would be fun. I figured that aiming for 10k Scottish zones was a reasonable goal, but without any time limit. This gets me out and about, to travel around Scotland and would work for my dog too. It avoids competing. And of course a sync between takes and uniques.

Every zone unique, every zone in Scotland. All on foot. And with this beauty, now 11 years older.

And finally

Artful.scot is a Turf account operated by Artful (me). This site is so that I can document my progress. I'm pleased if others enjoy it, but so long as it gives me a record of my adventure I'm more than happy.