Challenge 1 - All the Actons
Planned route was East Acton
Ealing Broadway Acton Main Line (run) Acton Central South Acton (run) Chiswick Park Acton TownScrewed this one up before I even started. I though that the train I wanted to start on was the one after the train I actually wanted to start on. In other words, I missed my first connection by about a minute. Not wanting to hand around another 14 minutes and not wanting to re-start, I decided to improvise. Took the next District out of Ealing Broadway, which was only a 4 minute wait. Plan B was to double back at Acton Town, but I missed the return train I wanted, which would have meant another long wait at Ealing Broadway. So from Acton Town I ran to South Acton and made a northbound train with seconds to spare.
Barely time to catch my breath before arriving at Acton Central. I accidentally took the back entrance out of the station, which put me on the wrong side of the level crossing, which was of course closed because the train I'd arrived on was about to pass over. So back into the station, back to the platform I'd arrived on and out of the main entrance, then ran to Acton Main Line. Got lucky here by having a 1 minute wait for a train which was running (I think) about 4 minutes late, and so finished the challenge back at Ealing Broadway.
Final time was 38:55, which - somehow - puts me second on the leaderboard!
Challenge 2 - South of the Thames
Started this one at Kew Gardens and timed the start to catch the half-hourly fast service between Richmond and Putney. Arriving at Richmond, I could, if I had been on the ball, just caught an ealier service which was running late, but I didn't realise this until too late. But the planned fast service turned up as expected.
Got fairly soaked on the run between Putney and East Putney. A 337 bus showed up as I ran out of Putney station and I was tempted to get on it, but I wasn't certain that it would go in the right direction and I could already see the underground bridge in the distance. In the end the bus barely beat me to East Putney station anyway.
The rest of the challenge went very smoothly. Only a few very good connections but it was rare that I had to wait more than one or 2 minutes. Only annoying point was missing a cross-platform double back at Brixton by the skin of my teeth, causing me to leave on the same train I arrived on.
Final time was 2:04:11, which I believe is a new record (by 23 seconds)!
That is, I believe. The Explorer Ticket website states that there are 33 stations south of the Thames but for the life of me I can only find 31. And yes I am including the new Battersea branch. I'll submit full details of my (secret) route to Tangy and see what he says.
Challenge 3 - All Lines
Route was Farringdon
Barbican Moorgate Liverpool Street Bank Waterloo Embankment (by Northern) Westminster (by District) Green Park Oxford Circus Piccadilly Circus Green ParkWent to Farringdon and waited for "the stars to align". Quickly got a Met train with a H&C 2 minutes behind and a Circle 2 minutes behind that. So all went fine up to Liverpool Street. Minor delays on the Central gave me a bit of a wait here and the train was rammed. Then long wait for a W&C. Slight screw up at Embankment when I went to the eastbound platform, not the westbound, but this was quickly rectified. More major screw up at Oxford Circus where I was positioned for a change to the northbound Bakerloo, not the southbound, meaning that I had to run the whole length of the platform. Not sure if this caused me to miss a train or not. Heavy crowds at Piccadilly Circus did cause me to miss an eastbound train to finish, but a westbound was in the opposite platform and departed maybe 15 seconds after the train I'd just missed. So I finished back at Green Park.
Final time was 49:24, which puts me just below halfway down the leaderboard, joint 44th with EastActionWoman and Hopeful Traveller.
All in all, a good day. Although my legs aren't thanking me the day after all this!
