My first foray into Challenging was on a day in October 2009 that started quite chilly when I left Marie’s flat in Upton Park and headed to Epping right on the top right hand corner of the Underground map. This was for what is known as a Snake challenge, the longest possible distance that is possible to go without leaving the network. I shall leave the route description to ‘Going Underground’ (Kevin Brown) as posted on the Tube Challenge forums:
It was a gorgeous sunny morning in Epping and we split into 2 x teams, Matt & Steven and Richie, Ryan & Kevin
We drew one of the two possible 127 routes at random and Peter’s variation came out… much to the joy of Matt & Steven… My team drew the number 1 start and despite the fact that good service was on all lines the trains were not leaving Epping as they should, nor indeed Woodford when we got there to find a 7 minute wait for a “loop” which terminated at Hainault as it was defective then another 5 minute wait there… We knew that the other team would surely do better around this stretch so our lead was probably being eaten into….
Everthing went well after that for a while up until Victoria, where 3 westbound trains departed before a very busy eastbound Upminster arrived following a 6 minute wait….
The frantic central London changes went well, although Ryan was struggling with a stitch and Richie was feeling the pace and was rather warm in his cosy fleece
So we head up on the Jubilee line and were around Willesden Green – Dollis Hill when we get a call from the other team that had just surfaced at Finchley Road…
We really needed a good Uxbridge connection at Wembley Park and we arrived to see 5 minutes on the board with their Jubilee train 6 minutes away
Time seemed to take an eternity here the boards ticking away at the same time, 5 mins / 4 mins etc…
Our luck held (for now) and we did get away in time to keep a narrow lead but then we lost another 6 mins waiting for a Picc line at Rayners Lane…
Ealing Common was our last hope and we needed a District within a couple of minutes…… 7 minutes passed and then we were caught
The lure of food & drink was too much so we all decided to stop our watches at Ealing Broadway, the times at this stage being 4hrs 28mins and 4hrs 7mins…
A most enjoyable day all in all and it was agreed that is well worth another go probably in the spring and hopefully with more teams….
Also good to meet Richie for the first time as well
By the time I posted, all the ‘practical’ parts of the route had already been mentioned, so in my post I concentrated on my thoughts and feelings instead.
I suppose I went a little unprepared… I wouldn’t quite call it a ‘fleece’ as such, but when I left my friend’s house at Upton Park it was actually quite cold. Still, it wasn’t until much later that I finally took it off, the thought of carrying it putting me off. Thankfully, I can manage in different temperature conditions so was OK (well, that’s my excuse…). I was also let down by my knowledge of many of the stations we had on the route, my usual stations up as far as that point being Paddington, the NR part of Waterloo, and Upton Park. Of course, I had been to other stations – see the SABRE page for some information (odd place to put it I know but never mind!), but none with the ‘in-depth’ knowledge. There was only the one occasion where my running skills (or lack thereof) let me down, and I had to stop as I couldn’t carry on. My not-very-good running ability was the reason I went with the Browns as Kevin had a dodgy ankle and also couldn’ run to well. It is also something I will have to work on before I do my full challenge whenever that is!
To be honest, I was a little embarassed at first – sitting on the Central line train at the beginning of the day studying the maps and the Way Out Map and the pages of station information that Kevin had and wondering what other people on the train thought of that, and also the sight of us three moving down a train carraige at a time whenever we stopped at a station. As the day continued however, I realised that this of course is London and not the South West of England, and people generally ignore other people.
I was also surprised at how quickly the four and a half hours actually went, and actually the adrenaline rush that occured running around the stations, following Brown Jr (can’t remember his name – sorry…), was actually more exhilarating than I’d expected to be honest.
All in all it was a good introduction to Tube Challenging.
(Shall I mention what happened in McDonalds, when I accidentally dropped my chips on the floor… then being kind in my Southwesterly way to pick them up… then when I sat back upright I knocked the tray off the table, with two open sachets of tomato ketchup, and the remains of a burger on it, which subsequently splattered across the floor… Or perhaps I won’t mention that…)