tubechallenge.com

How safe is it to do the Tube Challenge, given that you are on the system for one operating day and you stand out a bit from regular tube commuters with your rucksack of supplies and mobile office of notebook and phone

What things do I have to look out for when I'm taking my photos for verification for instance - I'm not going for the record but I will be sponsored so I will be providing evidence on social media (just a completed logbook and a photo every hour or so)

Put it this way - given there have been 100s (probably 1000s) of attempts, both for the GWR and not, how many have you heard of that have encountered problems with regard to safety? I certainly haven't heard of any!

In terms of what you are looking for when taking your photos - the station name would usually be a good starting point! Possibly also a timestamp, though if you're only taking a photo every hour or so, then I suppose it entirely depends on what you actually want to appear in your photo - it won't really be verifying anything as such

My other concern is being able to get a local taxi from Heathrow Terminal 5 back to 'base', as I don't fancy being stranded in the early hours of the morning

If you have caught a train to T5 then I'm pretty sure there will still be taxi services at the airport!

Before I started challenging one of my major concerns, not being from London, was safety but it really isn't an issue. There are no "dodgy" bits of the network in my experience, and Londoners are used to weirdos of all varieties

As I said on the other topic, stay on the A4 then you can get the N9 back from T5 for free.

al wrote: ↑09 Oct 2020, 21:58 Before I started challenging one of my major concerns, not being from London, was safety but it really isn't an issue. There are no "dodgy" bits of the network in my experience, and Londoners are used to weirdos of all varieties

As I said on the other topic, stay on the A4 then you can get the N9 back from T5 for free.

I'd say there aren't really any places on the FNC where I would feel unsafe (possibly the least salubrious bit is the Walthamstow run - sorry Tangy! - but I certainly wouldn't describe it as unsafe). However you're right to be vigilant - there was a random stabbing incident in the subway at Leytonstone a couple of years ago - but the chances of being caught up in something like that are very slim. You're more likely to get run over running across the road at Hammersmith!

Some of the places I've wound up in (or nearly wound up in) on R15s are a different matter, especially on Network Rail rounds. (In preparation for last year's season opener - the one where we weren't allowed to cross the Thames by rail - I researched the routes from a number of stations to Thames Clipper piers, and later discovered one of the routes I had been thinking of running went through the most crime-infested estate in the UK! I can also remember another challenge where towards the end our two youngest competitors and I had only Denmark Hill and Brixton to knock off and decided to terminate rather than attempt to run between the two stations in the dark). Sometimes those fears are misplaced though - on one challenge I famously lost my wallet whilst running between Whitechapel and Bethnal Green (again not a salubrious area) and really didn't expect to see it again (I suspected I may have been pickpocketed), but it was posted to me a few days later, intact save a note taken out to cover postage.

I'm not from London (I live in the Midlands between Birmingham and Nottingham) but I've never felt unsafe on the London Underground in all the time I've been using it, which is about 25 years. Maybe it's just me, but I've never seen anyone behaving in a way I found threatening. Having a bad experience on the Tube is a bit like being hit by lightning in terms of its likelihood in my opinion.

I've never felt unsafe on the London Underground at any point or on London buses either.

I think if you worried about how safe something is everytime, you'd never leave the house.

Sam wrote: ↑12 Oct 2020, 12:54 First and so far only female solo record holder!!

You'll still be the first, but hopefully soon not the only one

And I agree with Sam - always felt safe on the London Underground, even late at night in sections I don't know.