My next challenge was a Random 15 at the beginning of December. An R15 is a random selection of 15 tube stations from Zones 1 and 2 with a number of teams/individuals going round to get through them all in the shortest possible time. In order to celebrate the opening of Wood Lane station to the Hammersmith & City line (the latest new LU station (a DLR station has opened since) the challenge started there. The stations drawn at random were:
- Wood Lane
- Camden Town
- Notting Hill Gate
- Kensal Green
- East Putney
- Shepherds Bush
- Hammersmith H&C
- Farringdon
- Warren Street
- Brixton
- Moorgate
- Willesden Green
- Holborn
- Liverpool Street and
- Hampstead
Some people who took part opted to go with random pairings, myself included. I was with a fellow called Jack… and we came last.
- Peter Smyth 3h 04m 48 secs
- Matt Nunn & Steven Karahan 3h 09m 56 secs
- Kevin Brown & Matt Scrivin 3h 12m 29 secs
- Anthony & Jaime Brown 3h 12m 47 secs
- Andy James & al ( although lost halfway through challenge) 3h 26m 56 secs
- Martin Hazel 3h 29m 37 secs
- Richie G & Jack 3h 52m 09 secs
but to be fair, part way through we realised we had probably lost so kind of gave up the will to run between stations. We still finished though which was alright.
Well, like the rest, we went from WOOD LANE to HAMMERSMITH, but lost the rest of them between the H&C and Picc stations – people in the way of two runners, then traffic issues between the two stations. Sill, we Districted it to Earl’s Court, where we caught up with the rest, borrowing a Brown’s A-Z to check out a strategm for later on, and joining the rest on a District Line to EAST PUTNEY. We stayed on to Wimbledon, then SWTd it to Vauxhall, to take the Victoria line to BRIXTON and double-backed (on the same train) to Stockwell.
t was while on the SWT train that we realised the reason why all the rest alighted at East Putney, but ne’er mind…
The Northern Line was our next service, as far as MOORGATE – a cross platform train at Stockwell with, what I have been told is known in the trade as a ’sexy change’, was scuppered slightly by a long, and slightly pointless-seeming wait at Oval – where we then went out to LIVERPOOL STREET and returned to Euston Square (can’t recall whether it was H&C or Circle) via FARRINGDON for the run to WARREN STREET.
Getting the correct Northern Line branch for HAMPSTEAD was a bonus… meant we didn’t have to change at CAMDEN TOWN, and just pass through. Unfortunately, our plan up this part rested on the fact that we were hoping for a bus connection between Hampstead and either West Hampstead or, even better, Willesden Green. Unfortunately, such was not possible, so we headed down towards Finchley Road, possibly getting lost on route, and as a bus came up as we were at a bus stop, we decided to catch that. By this time, we had lost the will to run having realised we’d lost anyway with the SWT, and now this, fiasco, so we didn’t. We wound up at Swiss Cottage, and took the Jubilee to WILLESDEN GREEN, double-backed to West Hampstead, to take the Overground to Willesden Junction.
The original plan was to take the Bakerloo to Kensal Green and back, Overground it to Shepherds Bush, and Central into the City again. However, given the timetable of the Overground, we took the Bakerloo to KENSAL GREEN, continued into Paddington where we spent far too long waiting for a Circle to take us to NOTTING HILL GATE where we changed to a Central to SHEPHERD’S BUSH, double-backed to HOLBURN.
Anyway… I think that’s right… I left the route planning to Jack… (can I say that before this R15, I didn’t know Jack?!)