Our First FNC Attempt & Completion; 18:41:42 (08/08/2025)

[72stock]

Hello there,

I’m Jake and this is my first post on this forum. After years of wanting to attempt the full Tube Challenge, I got the chance to do so on Friday 8 August with my friend Leonard (LenH). We’ve both done a few alternative Tube challenges in the past and together took part in the Zone 1 Challenge Cup organised by Tangy earlier this year.

With this being our first attempt at a FNC, I was very pleased we managed to actually complete the challenge. The route we had chosen, essentially the labyrinth route with a few deviations, was scheduled to take 17hr 3min, but we were obviously faced with several delays which slowed us down. Attempting on a weekday also meant we were contending with limited Olympia services which played on our minds throughout the run.

(Btw, this is the fourth FNC post in two days! XD)



Participants: Jake McDuff and Leonard House

Attempt number: 1

Date: Friday 8 August 2025

Stations visited: 272 / 272

Time: 18 hours, 41 minutes, 42 seconds

Start: Chesham; 05:16

Finish: Heathrow T5; 23:58


Things got off to a very smooth start. The 05:16 from Chesham locked its doors at 05:16:26 when the clock started. After double-backing at Chalfont and staying on the same train at Amersham to head back to Rickmansworth, it was then a nervous 8-minute wait for the elusive train round the North Curve to Watford. It did indeed arrive and departed 30 seconds early. Hopping across the Watford platform, our next train took us to North Harrow where we half ran, half speed-walked to Rayners Lane where the Picc line train we wanted was just pulling in. Perfect!

A speedy connection at Ealing Common for the District line up to Broadway took us 7 minutes ahead of schedule. This lead was short-lived as we decided to stick to our plan of going to White City, but the next West Ruislip train was the same one as in our original plan. But, following the golden rule of “always get the first train” we decided to go to North Acton on the preceding Ealing Broadway service, then Northolt on a terminating service, and finally our West Ruislip train, arriving at its destination 2 minutes late. This slight delay was what started subsequent hold ups to build up.

Getting on a U1 to Ickenham, we then went to the wrong platform; we realised our mistake quickly, but too late to make the train to Uxbridge. Getting the Met train 3 minutes later, it was then a 4-minute turnaround at Uxbridge to get to Preston Road. We had wanted to backtrack one stop, but arriving at Preston Road, we caught sight of that train leaving early. Unsure what to do, for the next train wasn’t for another 7 minutes, we decided to run to South Kenton to pick up the Bakerloo line.

Unfortunately, due to train cancellations, there were no Bakerloo line trains for a good while. We took a Lioness train up to Harrow, but unaware that it was permitted to get the Overground to Queens Park under the “same tracks” rule, we were stuck waiting for 25 minutes for a Bakerloo train to finally show up. That cost us dearly as we were now 30 minutes behind schedule. Certainly something to keep in mind for next time.

After a nice long trip to Elephant & Castle, it was then to London Bridge, to Southwark, and then to West Ham to catch a c2c train to Upminster. Thanks to them running 4 minutes late (I thought c2c was meant to be punctual!), we then had to get a later District line; we were now 35 minutes behind.

Things became a bit smoother after that. It was straight to Aldgate East, running to Aldgate, jumping on the Circle line that had just pulled in, then it was a swift double back at Sloane Square and another at Brixton to get to Vauxhall. Despite the delays on the Circle line, we maintained our 35-minute lateness throughout.

Transferring to Nine Elms via a handy bus (I forget the number), it was then to Battersea, Kennington and Morden without issue. After a tram from Morden Road to Wimbledon, we sadly missed another train by seconds; another 5 minutes down.

Up to West Brompton, then a Mildmay train (which then became late) took us to Shepherds Bush, for now it was the Central line out east. Originally planning to go to Hainault first, our delay meant we no longer matched up to the timings of the shuttle, so we did Epping first (though not before getting more delayed by the train being curtailed at Loughton). After an annoying long turnaround at Epping, we returned to Woodford to then wait an excruciating 13 minutes for the shuttle, and then another 13 at Hainault thanks to an unlucky gap in the timetable. This was certainly the low point of the challenge as this caused us to be over an hour behind schedule.

We made back 5 minutes in the transfer between Leyton and Walthamstow which was nice, and it was then down to Warren Street and a double back at Goodge Street. It was here that we significantly deviated from our plan, for we found that following it would have us miss the only two Olympia services of the evening. So, we got up to Finchley Central, Mill Hill East and back, then to High Barnet, all without issue. Hopping on a 307 to Cockfosters Road and running to the station, we leapt onto the Piccadilly line as the doors were closing, nice!

A nice long ride to Barons Court was next, then the District to Earl’s Court. We had decided it was too risky to go all the way to Acton as we wanted to get on the first Olympia. This meant we had a leisurely 20 minutes in Earl’s Court to stock up on drinks. We had a bit of a scare when the Olympia service turned up showing “Wimbledon” on its display, but that was rectified and we headed there, relieved that it hadn’t been cancelled.

Our change of plan meant we left out Edgware and Stanmore in our rush to Olympia, so ticked off those lines without issue; bus to High Street Ken, Circle to Edgware Road, H&C to Moorgate, Northern straight to Edgware with no Camden transfer, bus to Canons Park, Jubilee to Stanmore then back to Baker Street. It was just Hammersmith, Richmond and Heathrow to go, but mainly due to our long wait at Earl’s Court, we were now running 110 minutes late by the time we had returned to our original route. But we pressed on, knocking out Hammersmith, running to the other Hammersmith and immediately on a District train to Richmond. We tried running for a Mildmay train, but we were just seconds too late.

It was back on the District to Turnham Green, then to Acton Town, just in time for the Terminal 4 train. Down and round the loop we went and that lead us nicely onto our last train to tick off Terminal 5 to complete the challenge at 23:58:08!


Final time: 18 hours, 41 minutes, 42 seconds. It’s worth noting that during our run, we accidentally stopped the stopwatch on one of our phones for a few seconds, but looking through the exact times of all the interchanges that we noted down while doing the challenge, we found that this is the final time we have.


Well, there you have it, a dream come true for both of us. I was particularly happy and quite surprised that everything worked out so we could complete it. Honestly, it wasn’t as exhausting as we thought it would be; I was quite concerned at the beginning that my fatigue or maybe hunger or thirst would make it a much harder job. In the end, I hardly ate any food all day and went to the toilet a grand total of 1 time (on the c2c train). I think the challenge was too engrossing for me to pay attention to any of my basic human needs.

I think the main thing that started off the chain of delays was the Bakerloo line and us not getting a Lioness train to Queens Park. That cost us half an hour and probably a lot more in the end by all the missed connections. If only we had known at the time! The Central line out east was also a nightmare with those long connections.

Certainly the highlight was getting the Olympia train. That had been weighing on us all day and to get there in time and for it not to be cancelled was a buzz.

This was an amazing experience and I’m sure we’ll be attempting this again, possibly next year and maybe trying on a Saturday.

[tubeguru]

It's a busy time for new members and full challenge attempts.

I'll add this one to the list, if you don't mind

[72stock]

Thank you!

[LenH]

Twas a lovely day indeed!