Cannon Street Run XIV - Ye Olde Bilge Mouse - Thursday 19th Sept

[Going Underground]

Avast ye swabs!! - Is soon be time to sail thee choppy and shark infested waters again and we have to navigate Ye Olde Bilge Mouse..... Arrrrrrr so be it!!

Meet at Ye Port 'o' Cannon Street 18:30 then after for grog at Ye Olde McD's in Warren Street

Who be setting sail with the salty old sea dawg Cap'n Kev then

[xcooler123]

Yarrrrr, I be setting sail from Port 'o' Cannon Street

[roblo97]

I be crashing my way on to the good ship to sail from Cannon Street

[tangy]

Walk the plank, me hearties! Navigator Tangy will get to port and leave all ya landlubbers in my wake....

[Going Underground]

Ahoy me hearties!!!! Just a reminder that ye have to visit the port of Olde Euston Square and this be shown outside the mouse on some treasure maps.... Avast yee!!!!!!!

[tangy]

*Foghorn*
If any landlubber is unclear... here is a list of the docks you need to set anchor at. Ye port of Euston Square must be visited but you can swerve ye olde Monument and Paddington H&C.

www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubechallenge/bottlerules.htm

Any seadog not towing the line will be thrown overboard!

[michael_churchill]

*Foghorn*
If any landlubber is unclear... here is a list of the docks you need to set anchor at. Ye port of Euston Square must be visited but you can swerve ye olde Monument.

www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubechallenge/mouserules.htm

Any seadog not towing the line will be thrown overboard!

FTFY

[EastActionWoman]

Ahhh, ye scurvy dogs! I've been chasin' yon bilge mouse for a couple o' moons now, so me and my trusty bosun will see all o' ye at Cannon Street.

[hopeful traveller]

Ahoy, vast landlubbers, ‘tis I, thee traveller without ‘ope!

Alas, this poor seadevil do not know the rules, and alas requires assistance, me hearties!

[Going Underground]

Ahoy, vast landlubbers, ‘tis I, thee traveller without ‘ope!

Alas, this poor seadevil do not know the rules, and alas requires assistance, me hearties!

Shiver me timbers master Rhys - here are yee rulings yee must abide to arrrrrr!!
http://www.explorerticket.co.uk/tubecha ... erules.htm

[tractakid]

[talklikeapirate] I am coming [/talklikeapirate]

[michael_churchill]

Have a great "Talk Like Robert Newton Day" everyone!

[tractakid]

Alas, the winds have changed and this pirate shall set sail to nearby waters instead.

[hopeful traveller]

All in all not a bad challenge, although I did get rather unlucky and might well have won it on another day.

Start at Cannon Street, then the now-traditional “mad dash” at the first change. I resisted the temptation of the crowd and jumped onto the Northern line, looking back at the platform to realise no one had followed me! Up to Camden Town (and an explanation of “why are you in shorts”, where I get a zero minuter to go back down to Euston. Get out and run to Euston Square - I’d given myself seven minutes for this and given Euston’s new taxi rank I used up the vast majority of these leaving the vicinity of Euston. I made the train at Euston Square, and then I had a brilliant bit of fortune where the train somehow left 1 minute late but arrived at Moorgate 2 minutes early. Knowing that I had an opportunity to get ahead of my schedule here (on paper, I would get a train leaving at 7:17, but the early arrival into Moorgate gave me a chance of the 7:15). I made the 7:15, but that was running a minute late anyway, hence I ended up waiting for a long time at Moorgate anyway. At which point, Kevin, who must have been on the Met train behind mine, turned up as it was pulling in. And lo and behold, Tangy was on the train pulling in. The usual mind games ensued and I realised that I was effectively ahead of him.

King’s Cross offered up a 2-minute wait, although I’m sure there’s a Northern -> Piccadilly shortcut I’m not aware of, followed by a 30-seconder at Covent Garden, before a long change at Holborn. I realised this may be where I lose that “train up”, which is only worth 2 minutes at that time of day anyway. I got a 0-minuter at Holborn (Woodford via Hainault) and I suddenly had a chance of getting in under 90 minutes, as I knew I had a slow connection at Bank coming up on paper and could potentially get two trains ahead. As it was, I had to wait 3 minutes, so I was “only” the one train up anyway. Kennington was kind to me, up, across, and down, 2 minutes, I’ll take that, then back to Elephant & Castle, and stop.

No trains on either platform. And the next one was ARRIVING - not departing - in 3 minutes. Oh dear.

As it was, after spending 6 minutes at E&C, the cleaner ended up having to ride up to Lambeth North (where an abnormally large crowd confirmed the diagnosis that the Bakerloo Line is terrible), then to Waterloo. At which point, I came across a broken travelator, but the appearance of Kev coming up behind me spurred me on to the finish line. As it was, we needn’t have bothered - 3 minute wait for the final ‘op to South Walk The Plank.

Then McDonalds, where a flooded toilet flushed us out of the downstairs section. No team names this year, sadly, so my team name of “In Soviet Russia, Plank Walk You” will have to be used next year instead...

[RJSRdg]

Well, that was an excellent evening (apart from a slight hold-up at Hayes on the way in and the usual 'good service' on the Circle Line, which between hem meant I didn't even get to Cannon Street until 18:40.

Other than that, no major issues in the run and my dodgy ankle held up (the test will be to see what it's like in the morning!). Most changes went well, although there were a couple of 'just misses' including one where I got on the train, wasn't sure if it was the right one, got off and let it go - which cost me a crucial 3 minutes!

I'm deliberately not revealing too much, though, as the route worked well and with a bit more luck I'm sure an even better time could be recorded.

Final time 01:32:14 with a Southwark finish, enough for 2nd place, and 10th on the all-time list.

However I will add that there was a particular poignancy in using the Waterloo travelator (twice) following yesterday's tragedy. I also found it quite upsetting, given the circumstances, to hear one passenger (not a Challenger!) complaining that the Travelators weren't working