The day started early, as I had to get out to Heathrow. The trip went without incident, and I was at Heathrow Terminal 5 with ten minutes to spare. All looked good – the tube arrived at 5:22, so a minute to spare before departure. It was looking good. Then for some reason (in spite of a green signal) it stayed there until gone 5:25, meaning that the one minute change at Hatton Cross looked extremely iffy. It proved to be impossible, the train had already left the platform before I arrived.
One of the main points of starting at Heathrow was to get an early Ken O, and that had now gone down the tubes. So – a wait at Hatton Cross, and then round to the loop and up towards Earls Court. I figured that in spite of the delay I could join up with my intended route and timings, and do Ken O later. The train seemed slow, with a couple of waits to regulate the service, but I ended up switching at Hammersmith to the train to Richmond. All good then, back on track. Train headed for Richmond, again slowly, and what should have been a nice relaxed cross platform change with a few minutes to spare turned into a mad dash. Back up to Gunnersbury, then six minutes to Chiswick Park, except it turned to less as that train got held a couple of times. The train was pulling into the platform as I rounded the corner, and in spite of a mad sprint (can someone make a gap in those railing so it isn’t necessary to go around them either side) the doors shut as I got to the top of the stairs.
So – now down on schedule even apart from Ken O, I still had hopes of getting back on track as I’d left a fair bit of time to spare later. I sat on a bench to figure out some options, then went to stand up to walk to the appropriate place on the platform, only to find my rucksack strap stuck between the slats. Got it free just as the train pulled in, and briefly bumped into Myles and Andi who were coming off the train I was getting onto. The next few changes went well, and I hoped to recover things by West Ruislip, but the Uxbridge announcements left me and a load of other people on the incorrect train, so in spite of catching a U1, I was now quite a bit down on top of missing Ken O. I decided to skip a quick double back to get back onto the route I had timed and do that later as well, and the next section of the route went well. I don’t want to give away the route, so in no particular order:
Things that went well
- Mill Hill East – only a few minutes wait in spite of being off schedule I’d judged my change of plan well
The double back to Preston Park - High Barnet to Picc line – in spite of the live bus news saying there was a big gap between buses, I ran to catch a 307 just as it arrived
- Changes – the planned ones went almost without exception very slickly. The only problem was where I changed route and although I had scouted the changes I hadn’t brought the details with me – something learnt for next time
- The run from Snaresbrook to Wood Street – even guessed the position nto the underground just right in spite of it being a shorter train than when I scouted it
- Stanmore to Edgeware – live bus update said a 142 would arrive just about perfectly so I went for that, and indeed it did but then got held to regulate the service (I heard that so many times), and then a couple got on who didn’t seem to understand fares leading to another few minutes delay
- Generally lots of holding. I know this is inevitable at some point but it seemed particularly bad, for instance coming in from Walthamstow Central we got held for a couple of minutes at the first few changes and then 8-10 minutes at Seven Sisters.
- Aldgate East to Aldgate. I’d scouted the position but not actually done the transfer, meaning that as I emerged I was completely lost as to which set of steps to take, and when I came out above ground I was disorientated. I saw a luminous roundel a short way down the street, and ran towards it – only to find I’d gone the wrong way and it was the other entrance to Aldgate East
Anyway, the journey down the Vic and Northern went very smoothly, but the transfer to Wimbledon didn’t – I kept checking for a 93 and couldn’t see one, then as I went down to check the tram departure board a 93 went past – not sure how I didn’t see it. I planned to switch at West Brompton and catch the overground to Ken O for the last train, but missed it by a few minutes. Although the Morden-Wimbledon transfer was bad, even with that I might have made it if I hadn’t cocked up between the Aldgates.
Anyway, no point carrying on if I couldn’t complete, so I aborted. With hindsight there were a couple of other bits I could have switched around that would have worked better, but at the time I missed. There’s certainly some things I learnt from the day and I could have worked out the final stages better but I was planning on the fly and it’s easy to miss things.
All in all a tough day at the office, I think the route is essentially a good one if the first change goes well, and I’m tempted to go and have another go in a few days. It is quite tough on your own though and I think I want to have a better look at contingencies if the first change missed. I did have one planned, but with the subsequent delays it took me outside of my planned ideas, and it did mean a lot of wasted time anyway. I also want to write up my notebook of changes more tidily.
I might try an Upminster start – it does seem far safer for an early Ken O, and Ken O was hanging over me all day so reducing that risk would be good, but then I don’t fancy the Heathrow to Richmond transfer. It’ll be interesting to hear how other people do on a Heathrow start with that first change. Plus I think I want to get fitter as my quads were dying by the end of the day and my stair climbing was less than pretty!
236/270 stations in 15:20.
I think next time I’ll log the arrivals and departures. Even though it isn’t likely to be a record, it would be interesting to look back and see exactly how much time I lost where.
