Random 15 - Round 6 - 4th June

[Soup Dragon]

The draw has been made and the details are as follows:
Start Time: 12:30
Station: Holland Park
Meet afterwards: Rising Sun, near Barbican (other pubs have been suggested but have not had time to research yet, so we will stick with what we know).

The final round is a normal one without any twists.

Stations closed this weekend (courtesy of Greatkingrat)
Kensington (Olympia)
East Putney
Putney Bridge
Parsons Green
Fulham Broadway
West Brompton
High Street Kensington
Bayswater
Edgware Road (Circle)
Paddington (H&C)
Royal Oak
Westbourne Park
Ladbroke Grove
Latimer Road
Wood Lane
Shepherd's Bush Market
Goldhawk Road
Hammersmith (H&C)
Pimlico
Vauxhall
Brixton

Pass-through only
Blackfriars
Cannon Street
Farringdon

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon

[Soup Dragon]

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon
uefacup81

[tangy]

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon
uefacup81
Tangy

[greatkingrat]

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon
uefacup81
Tangy
greatkingrat

[al]

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon
uefacup81
Tangy
greatkingrat
al

[RichieG]

Attending: (please add your name)
Going Underground
Soup Dragon
uefacup81
Tangy
greatkingrat
al
Richie

[Going Underground]

Holland Park, bang in the middle of all the closed lines/stations and a 2nd time for this station as the starter...

[Going Underground]

An EVL set of stations for the final round of the season if ever there was

Holland Park
Monument
Clapham Common
West Hampstead
Elephant & Castle
Sloane Square
Manor House
Covent Garden
Bromley-by-Bow
Hampstead
Lancaster Gate
East Acton
Blackfriars
Stepney Green
Goodge Street

So having opened the envelope I started circling stations on the map and saw Lancaster Gate as an Eastbound opened the doors as I got to that platform I quickly got in, just as they were beeping to close I saw East Acton next on the list so quickly jumped off
Too late though most of the other players had already caught a Westbound so already a train down

Still not having much of route by the time I was doubling back at East Acton and neither had Al who had also missed the 1st Westbound train...
I decided that West Hampstead would have to go and having changed at Bond Street I then met James who had done the same start a train ahead of me but decided to pick the Jubilee line up at Baker Street.....
We had an 8 min wait for and Overground at West Hamptead, hoping and praying in that space of time for a route 328 to Golders Green, in that short space of time 2 x 139's and 3 x C11's went past but not a 328 in sight
So it was to the Overground line where we just caught the train to Finchley & Frognal for the London equivalent of ascending Everest up to Hampstead..... (Note to self not a good idea to factor this one in future )

I couldn't figure out a quick way to get to Manor House so had decided this would be my finishing station and pressed on through very hot and crowded trains, especially the Picc which is always a nightmare when the Viccie is not running...
Several long waits having just arrived at platforms as trains were departing saw me finish in 3hrs 35mins 24secs, having seriously considered aborting over the last few changes....

Well no doubt the BERC will be along with all the times/teams/results and final table to what was an incredibly close finish to the 2010-11 R15 season

[Soup Dragon]

Well no doubt the BERC will be along with all the times/teams/results and final table to what was an incredibly close finish to the 2010-11 R15 season

Kevin, I think I put the sheet with the results in the back of the Darts scores? Maybe you could check and post the full times?

From memory the results are as follows:

1. 3:32:?? Peter Smyth
=. 3.32:?? Martin Hazel
3. 3:35:?? Kevin Brown
4. 3:5?:?? James Laughlin
5. 4:1?:?? Al Brown
6. 14 stations Richie Graham
7. 13 stations Antony Brown (in 3:38:30)

[Going Underground]

Well no doubt the BERC will be along with all the times/teams/results and final table to what was an incredibly close finish to the 2010-11 R15 season

Kevin, I think I put the sheet with the results in the back of the Darts scores? Maybe you could check and post the full times?

From memory the results are as follows:

1. 3:32:10 Peter Smyth Bromley by Bow
=. 3:32:10 Martin Hazel Bromley by Bow
3. 3:35:24 Kevin Brown Manor House
4. 3:43:38 James Laughlin Clapham Common
5. 4:12:53 Al Brown Lancaster Gate
6. 14 stations Richie Graham (in 3:19:16) Missed Manor House
7. 13 stations Antony Brown (in 3:38:30) Missed Lancaster Gate

There you go I think that tidies it up......... Many thanks for organising the championship and look forward to seeing the dates for 2011-12

[Soup Dragon]

1. 3:32:10 Peter Smyth Bromley by Bow
=. 3:32:10 Martin Hazel Bromley by Bow
3. 3:35:24 Kevin Brown Manor House
4. 3:43:38 James Laughlin Clapham Common
5. 4:12:53 Al Brown Lancaster Gate
6. 14 stations Richie Graham (in 3:19:16) Missed Manor House
7. 13 stations Antony Brown (in 3:38:30) Missed E&C and Clapham Common

Slight correction, I missed two stations as amended above.

[RichieG]

Well, my day went like this.

From leaving my friend's house at Upton Park to head towards Holland Park, I started with the first of what ended up as many bad Mile End connections during the day. None however really affected the challenge, though it could have (but I will come to that later!)

So at Holland Park, with the unusual (?) stopwatch start at platform level, I started to look at the stations. As will possibly be mentioned soon, and has probably been mentioned already, the 'obvious' at first choice for direction was Eastbound. However, while I still stood at the platform quickly scanning down the list of stations, I noticed Mr Tangy switch over to the Westbound, so although I hadn't seen East Acton on the list at that point, thuoght I would follow.

And glad I did, for further down the train, I saw East Acton on the list. Alighting there, and noticing an eastbound train pulling in, I realised I had no chance at getting it, so did my usual stroll over (which did include being caught behind a disabled woman being assisted slowly down the stairs) to find that even those who sprinted to make the connection failed. So, heading back eastbound, I passed through Lancaster Gate to alight at Holborn to go southbound on the Picc to take in Covent Garden and another change at Leicester Square to head northbound on the Northern through Goodge Street.

This was where part of my original route failed. I had intended to change to the Vicky at Warren Street, to get back to the Picc at KXSP, remembering the works being done at KXSP and not wanting to change there. However, of course the Vicky was closed, and even though marked down as so on my map, for some reason my first route planning didn't notice this. As I was on an Edgware train, I decided to head to Hampstead at that point rather than later on, re-routing on-the-fly to get in Manor House later on.

From Hampstead, I rose to the surface to get to Finchley Road & Frognal Overground station, and from there to West Hampstead Overground, to the 'proper' West Hampstead station to head back south on the Jubilee Line. I took it all the way down to Westminster, where I changed on to the District line to double back at Sloane Square. It was at this point that I think it was my first jump onto a train while the doors were actually closing (not just beeping), and although my back pack did trap the doors making them open, I am taking solace in the fact that it did allow a person with a pushchair onto the train when there wasn't another due for 7 minutes. This was where my on-the-fly route planning went into its element; my original plan was to do the same (ish) and finish at Bromley-by-Bow, but instead, I headed south at Embankment onto the Northern Line, changing at Kennington (and what a marvellous change it was too!) to head further south to Clapham Common, where yet another perfect double back was executed, which took me as far as Elephant & Castle.

Another quick route change saw me alight here and head north on the Bakerloo Line as far as Embankment, to get back onto the District Line and head East to take in Blackfriars and Monument - an original route had me changing from the Northern Line to the District at Monument, under the thinking that the Northern Line platforms was on the route between Bank and Monument, and therefore not a huge distance to go. Not being entirely sure on this, plus this route resulting in a double back at Temple, meant that I dropped said plan.

The next problem was getting in Manor House which was missed earlier. The plan that came in was to continue on the District through Stepney Green and Bromley-by-Bow to West Ham, up to Stratford, then Overground to Highbury & Islington, to Finsbury Park, and thus to Manor House. However, two station announcers said that the Victoria was closed throughout, rather than just between Highbury & Islington and Brixton, and once I hit open air at Bow Road, it looked as if the TfL Journey Planner was agreeing with them - Bromley-by-Bow to Manor House via Stratford giving me a NXEA train from Stratford to Liverpool Street. Given that I was told the estimated route (going back on the H&C and up from KXSP) would have been around 45-50 minutes, I decided to stop with 14 stations at a time of 3:19:16.

On the way back, I waited for quite some time for a Hammersmith & City line train (three Districts passed on the wait) - in the process wondering what the point of the 'info points' that they've put at stations is for given that I've seen them used twice, used one once myself (wanting to find out how long until the next H&C train yesterday) and not seen it answered at all. Boarding the fourth District line train, I changed at Mile End again to get the Central across to Liverpool Street, and once again had a crap connection, the doors on the Central Line train closing just as the District ones opened. As another postscript, on my way back, not having had a H&C line train for a while at Barbican, I boarded a Met, changed to the Central at Liverpool Street, only to have exactly the same thing happen at Mile End again...